Full text of "CMH Pub 5-1 Strategy and Command: The First Two Years"

UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II

The War in the Pacific

STRATEGY AND COMMAND:
THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Louis Morion

CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY

UNITED STATES ARMY

WASHINGTON, B.C., 2000

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-60001

First Printed 1962— CMH Pub 5-1

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C., 20402

UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II
Stetson Conn. General Editor

Advisory Committee

(As of 5 April 1961)

Fred Harvey Harrington
University of Wisconsin

William R. Emerson
Yale University

Oron J. Hale
University of Virginia

W. Stull Holt
University of Washington

Bell I, Wiley
Emory University

Ma}. Gen. Louis W, Truman
U.S. Continental Army Command

Brig. Gen. Evan M. Houseman
Industrial College of the Armed Forces

Brig. Gen. Bruce Palmer, Jr.
U.S. Army War College

Brig. Gen. William A. Cunningham III
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College

Col. Vincent J. Esposito
United States Military Academy

C. Vann Woodward
John Hopkins University

Office of the Chief of Military History

Brig. Gen. James A. Norell, Chief of Military History

Chief Historian
Chief, Histories Division
Chief, Publication Division
Editor in Chief

Stetson Conn

Col. Leonard G. Robinson
Lt. Col. James R. Hillard
Joseph R. Friedman

. . . to Those Who Served

Foreword

For the United States, full involvement in World War II began and
ended in the Pacific Ocean. Although the accepted grand strategy of the
war was the defeat of Germany first, the sweep of Japanese victory in the
weeks and months after Pearl Harbor impelled the United States to move
as rapidly as it could to stem the enemy tide of conquest in the Pacific.
Shocked as they were by the initial attack, the American people were also
united in their determination to defeat Japan, and the Pacific war became
peculiarly their own affair. In this great theater it was the United States
that ran the war, and had the determining voice in answering questions of
strategy and command as they arose. The natural environment made the
prosecution of war in the Pacific of necessity an interservice effort, and any
real account of it must, as this work does, take into full account the views
and actions of the Navy as well as those of the Army and its Air Forces.

These are the factors — a predominantly American theater of war cover-
ing nearly one-third the globe, and a joint conduct of war by land, sea, and
air on the largest scale in American history — that make this volume on the
Pacific war of particular significance today. It is the capstone of the eleven
volumes published or being published in the Army's World War II series
that deal with military operations in the Pacific area, and it is one that
should command wide attention from the thoughtful public as well as the
military reader in these days of global tension.

Washington, D. C. JAMES A. NORELL

5 April 1961 Brigadier General, U.S.A.

Chief of Military History

The Author

Louis Morton, now Professor of History at Dartmouth College, was a
member of the Office of the Chief of Military History from 1946 to 1959.
During that time, he served as chief of the Pacific Section, responsible for
the preparation of the 11 -volume subseries on The War in the Pacific,
deputy to the Chief Historian, and historical adviser for the post-World
War II program. The present volume is the second he has written for the
series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. The first, The
Fall of the Philippines, was published in 1953. In addition, he has contrib-
uted substantially to other publications of this office, including Command
Decisions, and has published numerous articles in professional military
and historical journals.

A graduate of New York University, Mr. Morton received his doctorate
from Duke University in 1938 in the field of American colonial history.
After a brief teaching career, he joined the Williamsburg Restoration,
which published his study, Robert Carter of Nomini Hall, and then in
May 1942 volunteered for military service. Most of his Army career was
spent in the Pacific on historical assignments, and it was during this period
that his interest in military history began. He has served as consultant and
lecturer at a number of military and civilian institutions and teaches
military history at Dartmouth.

viu

Preface

Strategy is a many-sided word, connoting different things to different
people. The author of any work on strategy, therefore, owes it to his
reader to define at the outset his own conception of this ambiguous term.
For it is this conception that underlies the shape of his work and largely
determines what belongs to it and what does not, what emphasis will be
accorded certain subjects, and how they will be treated.

In the present volume, the author has viewed strategy broadly, including
within it not only the art of military command — the original meaning of
the term — but all those activities associated with the preparation for and
the conduct of war in the Pacific. Strictly speaking, this book is not about
military operations at all (though it includes operational strategy) , for
these belong in the realm of tactics and are covered fully in the other
volumes of the Pacific subseries. It is focused rather on the exceedingly
complicated and difficult, if less dangerous, tasks that are necessary to bring
men with all that they need to the chosen field of battle at a given moment
of time. These may be less glamorous endeavors than those usually asso-
ciated with war, but they are as vital and were particularly important and
complex in the Pacific, often determining the outcome of battle.

Viewed thus, the arena of Pacific strategy is the council chamber rather
than the coral atoll; its weapons are not bombs and guns but the mountains
of memoranda, messages, studies, and plans that poured forth from the
deliberative bodies entrusted with the conduct of the war; its sound is not
the clash of arms but the cool voice of reason or the heated words of debate
thousands of miles from the scene of conflict. The setting for this volume,
therefore, is the war room; its substance, the plans for war and the statistics
of shipping and manpower. It deals with policy and grand strategy on the
highest level — war aims, the choice of allies and theaters of operations, the
distribution of forces and supplies, and the organization created to use them.
On only a slightly lower level, it deals with more strictly military matters —
with the choice of strategies, with planning and the selection of objectives,
with the timing of operations, the movement of forces and, finally, their
employment in battle.

Strategy in its larger sense is more than the handmaiden of war, it is an
inherent element of statecraft, akin to policy, and encompasses preparations
for war as well as the war itself. Thus, this volume treats the prewar period
in some detail, not in any sense as introductory to the main theme but as

an integral and important part of the story of Pacific strategy. The great
lessons of war, it has been observed, are to be found in the events preceding
the outbreak, of hostilities. It is then that the great decisions are made and
the nature of the war largely determined. Certainly this was the case in
World War II, and the years before Pearl Harbor are rich in lessons for
our own day.

The original design for the Pacific subseries of the UNITED STATES
ARMY IN WORLD WAR II envisaged a single volume on strategy cover-
ing the entire period of the war as well as the prewar period. But it subse-
quently became evident that it would be impossible to tell so large a story
in any meaningful way in so brief a span. An additional volume was there-
fore allocated to Pacific strategy. The terminal date for the present volume,
December 1943, was selected partly for reasons of length but also because
that date provided a logical dividing point in the story of Pacific strategy
for a variety of reasons. Other volumes will deal with the final year and a
half of the war, from December 1943 to August 1945.

Even so, it has been necessary to condense much of the story of Pacific
strategy and to omit some things that perhaps should have been included.
In each instance of this sort, the author has based his decision on the signifi-
cance of the subject and its relevance to the larger theme of the book. Thus,
the author emphasized the organization for planning on the higher levels,
at the expense of the organization of theater headquarters because it seemed
to him that the area of decision deserved the greater attention. Similarly,
he avoided a detailed account of theater organization for its own sake, since
a pro forma account would shed little light on the major problems of the
Pacific war. But when theater organization emerges as a major factor, as it
does in the account of joint command or Army-Navy relationships, it
receives considerable attention.

The temptation to deal in this book with the larger problems of global
strategy became at times almost irresistible. Constantly the author had to
remind himself that his subject was the Pacific war and that global strategy
was treated in full elsewhere in this series. He attempted, therefore, to
include only so much of the larger picture as was necessary to put the
Pacific into its proper perspective. The same is true of logistics and of
operations. UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II is a large
series with volumes on a great many subjects, many of them closely related
to one another and to this one. Thus, the author had constantly to skirt a
narrow path between those volumes dealing with the higher echelons of
the War Department and those dealing with operations in the theater.
When he trespassed, he did so because it seemed necessary for an under-
standing of the story of Pacific strategy; to do otherwise would have been a
disservice to the reader.

Every author who sets out to write a book incurs numerous obligations.
But none owes more than one whose book is part of a larger series and who
works within the framework of an organization in which many people con-

tribute to the volume in the course of their daily work. This is such a book,
and the debts of the author to his colleagues and associates are heavy indeed,
even though he alone is responsible for interpretations made and conclu-
sions drawn in this volume as well as for any errors of omission or commis-
sion. The list of those whose assistance eased the author's task extends from
the Chiefs of Military History and the Chief Historians, past and present,
to the typists who deciphered penciled scribblings and the file clerks who
saved the author many valuable hours. Included in this long list are editors
and cartographers, librarians and archivists, participants in the events
described, and observers, supervisors, and subordinates. But the heaviest
debts are to my fellow historians in this adventure in co-operative history,
and especially to the authors of the other volumes in the Pacific subseries.
The references to their work, which appear so often on the pages that follow,
are only a partial acknowledgment of their contribution. Full acknowledg-
ment would have to include also the less tangible but equally important
benefits derived from close association and frequent conversation. For this
aid, the author owes much to his colleagues, civilian and military, but he
owes more perhaps to their encouragement and to the support and friend-
ship they gave so freely during the years it took to write this book.

Hanover, New Hampshire LOUIS MORTON

20 September 1960

Contents

Introduction

Page

THE PACIFIC WORLD 3

The Ocean and Its Islands 5

The Great Powers in the Pacific 13

PART ONE

The Road to War

Chapter

I. THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY 21

Early Plans for Defense 21

The ORANGE Plan 24

RED and RED-ORANGE 31

Strategic Dilemma 33

II. JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941 45

Japanese Expansion 46

Economic and Military Preparations 54

Japan Moves South 58

III. EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC 67

Strategic Adjustment, 1938-1940 68

The Critical Summer of 1940 74

Shift to the Atlantic, September 1940-January 1941 79

RAINBOW 5 86

IV. THE FATAL TURN 92

The July Crisis 92

America Faces the Far East 96

The Plan for War 103

V. THE DECISION FOR WAR 113

Tojo Takes Over 113

The Progress of Negotiations 117

The Die Is Cast 121

Conclusion 124

PART TWO
The Defensive: Pearl Harbor to Midway

Chapter Page

VI. THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR 7-26 DECEMBER 131

The Japanese Offensive: First Phase 131

Meeting the Emergency 139

VII. THE MALAY BARRIER 154

Allied Strategy 154

The ABDACOM Interlude 166

VIII. THE PHILIPPINES 181

The Siege of Bataan 181

Strategy and Logistics 186

Command 193

IX. AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION 198

The Northeast Area 198

The Line of Communications 204

Th&Japanese Threat 212

Pacific Build-up 217

X. THE U.S. AND JAPANESE HIGH COMMANDS 225

The Washington Command Post 225

The Japanese High Command 234

XI. ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC 240

The Problem of Responsibility 240

The Southwest Pacific and Pacific Ocean Areas 244

The South Pacific Area 256

XII. TRANSITION 264

The Fall of the Philippines 264

The Tokyo Raid 269

Coral Sea and Midway 274

PART THREE
Seizing The Initiative

XIII. PLANNING THE OFFENSIVE 289

Early Plans 290

Strategy and Command 294

Compromise: The 2 July Directive 301

xiv

Chapter Page

XIV. PREPARATIONS AND PROBLEMS 305

Logistics and Strategy 305

The Pacific Versus Europe 308

MacArthur Prepares 311

Final Preparations 318

XV. CRISIS IN THE PACIFIC, AUGUST-NOVEMBER 1942 324

Emergency Measures 325

The Debate Over Priorities 333

The October Crisis 340

The Shipping Crisis 345

The Crisis Ends 349

XVI. COMMAND AND CO-OPERATION 352

Army-Navy Relations in the South Pacific 352

The Southwest and Central Pacific 357

Joint Staffs 359

A Unified Command for the Pacific 361

XVII. JAPANESE AND AMERICAN PLANS 364

The Japanese Regroup 364

Tasks Two and Three: The Indivisibility of Strategy and

Command 370

XVIII. THE PACIFIC IN GRAND STRATEGY 376

Strategic Concepts 376

The Casablanca Conference 380

Strategy for 1943 385

XIX. MEANS AND ENDS: THE MARCH 1943 DIRECTIVE 387

Theater Plans .. 387

The Pacific Military Conference 390

XX. CARTWHEEL AND THE I-GO OPERATION 400

CARTWHEEL 400

The I-GO Operation 411

PART FOUR
Emerging Patterns

XXL THE NORTH PACIFIC AND THE SOVIET UNION 419

Strategic Background 419

The Aleutians 421

Chapter Page

XXII. THE REVIVAL OF ORANGE 434

The Central Pacific War 434

The Philippines in Central Pacific Strategy 437

The Japanese 444

The Central Pacific in Long-Range Strategy 447

XXIII. CENTRAL PACIFIC TIMETABLE 454

The TRIDENT Conference 454

The Marshalls Plan 460

Alternate Proposals 463

Gilberts-Nauru Plan 468

XXIV. ORGANIZING FOR THE OFFENSIVE 473

The Problem 473

Theater Organization 481

The Joint Staff 490

XXV. OPERATIONS AND PLANS, SUMMER 1943 502

CARTWHEEL Begins 502

Strategic Forecast, August 1943 512

XXVI. REVIEW AND ADJUSTMENT 521

Ships and Plans 521

Strategic Role of the North Pacific 527

CARTWHEEL and RENO 533

XXVII. THE JAPANESE REVISE THEIR STRATEGY 543

The New Operational Policy 543

The Decision Is Made 547

The New Strategy in Action 550

XXVIII. THE EXECUTION OF STRATEGY: PACIFIC OPERATIONS,

AUGUST-DECEMBER 194S 559

New Georgia 559

Salamaua to Sio 563

The Gilbert Islands 567

CARTWHEEL Completed 575

XXIX. PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE 584

The Pattern of Pacific Warfare 585

The Prospects for Japan 590

Long-Range Plans for the Defeat of Japan 592

Operations for 1944 601

xvi

Appendix Page

A. DIRECTIVE TO THE SUPREME COMMANDER, ABDA AREA,

3 JANUARY 1942 (ABC-4/5) 607

B. GENERAL OUTLINE OF POLICY OF FUTURE WAR GUID-

ANCE, ADOPTED BY LIAISON CONFERENCE, 7 MARCH

1942, AND REPORT OF PRIME MINISTER AND CHIEFS

OF STAFF TO EMPEROR, 13 MARCH 1942 611

C. DIRECTIVE TO THE SUPREME COMMANDER IN THE

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA, 30 MARCH 1942 (CCS

57/1) 614

D. DIRECTIVE TO THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA, 30 MARCH 1942 (CCS 57/1) 617

E. JOINT DIRECTIVE FOR OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS IN THE

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA AGREED UPON BY THE
UNITED STATES CHIEFS OF STAFF, 2 JULY 1942 619

F. LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS TO MAJ. GEN. MILLARD F.

HARMON, COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY

FORCES IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC, 7 JULY 1942 621

G. JAPANESE ARMY-NAVY CENTRAL AGREEMENT CONCERN-

ING SOUTH PACIFIC AREA OPERATIONS, WITH SUP-
PLEMENT, 4 JANUARY 1943 624

H. CONDUCT OF THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC THEATER IN

1943, MEMORANDUM BY U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF,

22 JANUARY 1943 (CCS 168) 627

I. THE ELKTON PLAN FOR THE SEIZURE AND OCCUPATION
OF THE NEW BRITAIN-NEW IRELAND-NEW GUINEA
AREA, PREPARED BY GHQ, SWPA, 28 FEBRUARY 1943 630

J. JAPANESE ARMY-NAVY CENTRAL AGREEMENT ON SOUTH-
EAST AREA OPERATIONS, WITH SUPPLEMENT, 15
MARCH 1943 636

K. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF DIRECTIVE: OFFENSIVE OPERA-
TIONS IN THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
AREAS DURING 1943, 28 MARCH 1943 (JCS 238/5/D) 641

xvii

Appendix P°ge

L. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF DIRECTIVE: UNIFIED COMMAND
FOR U.S. JOINT OPERATIONS, 20 APRIL 1943 (JCS

263/2/D) 642

M. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF MEMORANDUM: STRATEGIC
PLAN FOR THE DEFEAT OF JAPAN, APPROVED BY
THE COMBINED CHIEFS OF STAFF, 19 MAY 1943 (JCS
287/1 AND CCS 220) 644

N. EXTRACT FROM THE FINAL REPORT OF THE COMBINED
CHIEFS OF STAFF TO THE PRESIDENT AND PRIME
MINISTER AT THE TRIDENT CONFERENCE, AP-
PROVED 25 MAY 1943 (CCS 242/6) 648

O. EXTRACT FROM THE FINAL REPORT OF THE COMBINED
CHIEFS OF STAFF TO THE PRESIDENT AND PRIME
MINISTER AT THE QUADRANT CONFERENCE, 24
AUGUST 1943 (CCS 319/5) 650

P. APPOINTMENT OF LT. GEN. ROBERT C. RICHARDSON, JR.,
AS COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY FORCES, CEN-
TRAL PACIFIC AREA, 16 AUGUST 1943 654

Q. JAPANESE GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE FUTURE WAR
DIRECTION POLICY, ADOPTED AT THE IMPERIAL
CONFERENCE, 30 SEPTEMBER 1943 655

R. JAPANESE ARMY-NAVY CENTRAL AGREEMENT CONCERN-
ING THE CENTRAL AND SOUTH PACIFIC OPERA-
TIONS, WITH SUPPLEMENT, 30 SEPTEMBER 1943 657

S. SUMMARY OF RENO III, OUTLINE PLAN FOR OPERATIONS
OF THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA TO REOCCUPY
THE SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES, PREPARED BY GHQ,
SWPA, 20 OCTOBER 1945 661

T. OVERALL PLAN FOR THE DEFEAT OF JAPAN: REPORT
BY THE COMBINED STAFF PLANNERS, APPROVED IN
PRINCIPLE, 2 DECEMBER 1943 (CCS 417) 668

U. SPECIFIC OPERATIONS FOR THE DEFEAT OF JAPAN, 1944,
3 DECEMBER 1943 (CCS 397 REV), MEMORANDUM BY
THE U.S. CHIEFS OF STAFF 673

xviii

Appendix P°g^

V. "ELKTON" III, GENERAL HEADQUARTERS, SOUTHWEST

PACIFIC AREA, 26 APRIL 1943 675

W. RENO III, HISTORICAL RECORD INDEX CARD, GHQ SWPA,

20 OCTOBER 1943 . 686

GUIDE TO FOOTNOTES 693

THE SOURCES 697

BASIC MILITARY MAP SYMBOLS 716

INDEX 721

Tables

No. Pag*

1. Japanese Military Budget, 1931-1940 55

2. Japanese Army Ground and Air Forces and Navy Air Forces, 1937-1941 ... 57

3. Major Army Combat Forces for the Pacific, Present and Projected,

April-May 1942 213

4. Army Strength in the Pacific, April 1942 224

5. Timetable of Pacific Operations, August 1943 516

6. Strength, U.S. Forces in the Pacific, 31 December 1943 538

7. Major U.S. Combat Forces in the Pacific, 31 December 1943 539

8. Major U.S. Combat and Air Forces in Pacific and European Areas,

31 December 1943 540

9. Japanese Shipping Losses, 7 December 1941—20 September 1943 546

10. Japanese Army Reinforcements, Central Pacific, September 1943-January

1944 554

11. Army (and AAF) Battle Casualties, Pacific Areas, December 1941—

December 1943 585

12. Battle Casualties, Navy and Marine Corps, December 194 1-December 1943 . . . 586

13. Specific Operations for the Defeat of Japan, 1944 604

Charts

1. Disposition of Major Japanese Forces for War, December 1941 110

2. Organization of ABDACOM, January-February 1942 169

3. The Washington High Command and the Pacific Theaters, December 1942 . . . 232

4. The Japanese High Command 238

xix

No. Page

5. Command Organization in the Pacific, July 1942 254

6. Organization of Japanese Forces, Solomons-New Guinea Area, January

1943 366

7. Command Organization, South Pacific Forces, August 1943 404

8. Organization for Administration and Supply, U.S. Army Forces, South

Pacific Area, July 1943 405

9. Organization of South Pacific Air Forces, Solomon Islands, July 1943 406

10. Command Organization, Southwest Pacific Area, July 1943 . 409

11. Organization for Administration and Supply, U.S. Army Forces, South-

west Pacific Area, July 1943 410

12. Organization of Japanese Forces, Southeast Area, July 1943 414

13. Command Organization, Pacific Ocean Areas, October 1943 483

14. Organization for Administration and Supply, U.S. Army Forces, Central

Pacific Area, December 1943 488

15. Headquarters Organization, CINCPOA-CINCPAC FLEET, October 1943 .497

16. Organization of Japanese Forces in Pacific and Southeast Asia, November

1943 556

Maps

1. The Japanese Plan for War, December 1941 106

2. The ABDACOM Area, January-February 1942 162

3. The South Pacific Line of Communications to Australia, 1942 206

4. The Japanese Advance Into the Solomons-New Guinea Area, January-

July 1942 291

5. The Battle Area, August 1942 314

6. The North Pacific 422

7. The Central Pacific 435

8. New Georgia Operations, 21 June-5 July 1943 506

9. Japan's National Defense Zone, Southeast Area 548

10. South Pacific Operations, June— November 1943 561

11. Southwest Pacific Operations, September 1943— February 1944 567

12. Makin Atoll 568

13. Tarawa Atoll 570

14. Progress and Prospects, 31 December 1943 588

Maps I- III are in inverse order inside back cover

I. The Japanese Offensive, December 1941-May 1942
II. The Pacific and Adjacent Theaters, April 1942
III. The Cartwheel Operations

Illustrations

Page

Fujiyama 8

On Board the Powhatan 9

View From Manila Bay 23

Washington Conference, 1921-22 26

General Douglas MacArthur 38

Brig. Gen. Stanley D. Embick 40

Japanese Cabinet, March 1936 49

Japanese Troops Marching Through the Peiping Gate 52

Konoye Cabinet of June 1937 53

General George C. Marshall 73

Admiral Harold R. Stark 73

Brig. Gen. George V. Strong 76

General Teiichi Suzuki 95

Admiral Osami Nagano 96

Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short 102

Admiral Husband E. Kimmel 103

Japanese Mock-up of Ford Island and Battleship Row 104

General Hideki Tojo 116

Japanese Signs Proclaiming Economy Drive 117

Joint Board Meeting 120

Kurusu and Nomura 125

"Banzai!" 134

Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941 135

President Franklin D. Roosevelt 142

Admiral Ernest J. King 145

Lt. Gen. Delos C. Emmons 145

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz 145

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson 149

Lt. Gen. H. ter Poorten 167

ABDA Command 170

Vice Adm. Conrad E. L. Helfrich and Admiral Thomas C. Hart 173

Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma 183

General MacArthur With Brig. Gen. Patrick J. Hurley 196

Brig. Gen. Alexander M. Patch, Jr 210

Forward Echelon of the 41st Division 211

Joint Chiefs of Staff 228

General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz 249

Vice Adm. Herbert F. Leary 253

Rear Adm. Robert L. Ghormley 258

Rear Adm. John R. McCain 258

Rear Adm. Aubrey W. Fitch 259

Rear Adm. Richmond K. Turner 259

xxi

Page

Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright 268

Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle and Capt. Marc A. Mitscher 271

Explosion on the Lexington 277

Battle of Midway 285

Training on Australian Beaches 293

Brig. Gen. Thomas T. Handy 298

Rear Adm. Charles M. Cooke, Jr. 299

General MacArthur and Maj. Gen. George C. Kenney 312

Maj. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger and General Sir Thomas Blarney 312

A— 20 Skip-Bombing an Enemy Freighter 320

B-17 Over the Solomons 321

New P-38's at Noumea 332

Lt. Gen. Henry H. Arnold 338

Admiral Nimitz at Noumea 339

Ships at Noumea 346

Damaged Supplies 355

Henderson Field 356

Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., and Maj. Gen. Millard F. Harmon 357

Lt. Gen. Hatazo Adachi 368

Lt. Gen. Haruyoshi Hyakutake 368

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto 369

Lt. Gen. Hitoshi Imamura 369

Plenary Session at Casablanca 384

Conference at Alamo Headquarters 407

Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt 428

Rear Adm. Thomas C. Kincaid 429

Planning the Kiska Operation 432

Vice Adm. Raymond A. Spruance 484

Lt. Gen. Robert C. Richardson, Jr 484

Maj. Gen. Holland M. Smith 485

Rear Adm. John H. Hoover 485

Maj. Gen. Willis H. Hale 489

Fijian Commandos 504

Rendova Commanders 508

Rendova Landing Forces 508

Munda Airfield 512

On New Georgia 513

American Strategic Planners at Quadrant 518

The Combined Chiefs of Staff at Quebec 519

Vice Adm. Jinichi Kusaka 551

Australian Troops Go Ashore Near Lae 564

Airborne Operations at Nadzab 565

LVT's at Tarawa 572

Landing Craft Moving in on Butaritari Island 574

xxii

Page

Admiral Halsey with Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler and Maj. Gen. Roy S.

Geiger 578

Maj. Gen. Oscar W. Griswold and General Harmon 579

Supply Road on Bougainville 580

Cairo Conference 594

Tehran Conference 595

General Marshall at Southwest Pacific Headquarters 603

Illustrations are from the following sources:

National Archives: pages 49, 52, 53, 117, 14a, 196, 428.

Captured Japanese films: pages 95, 96, 116, 183, a68, 369, 551.

Life photograph taken by McAvoy: page 125. © Thomas McAvoy/Timepix (2002)

The Netherlands Department of Defense: pages 167, 170, 173.

Australian War Memorial: page 368.

All other photographs are from Department of Defense files.

xxni

INTRODUCTION
THE PACIFIC WORLD

The theater of war is the province of strategy.

Sir Edward Bruce Hamley

The Mediterranean is the ocean of the past, the Atlantic, the ocean of the
present, and the Pacific, the ocean of the future.

John Hay

INTRODUCTION

The Pacific World

Much that has been written about the
Pacific area is a mixture of romanticism
and exaggeration. But for those who
seek an understanding of the Pacific as a
theater of war, a knowledge of the ocean,
its islands, its peoples, and its history is a
prerequisite. It was these factors which
in large measure determined where and
how the war would be fought, shaped
strategy, complicated logistics, and con-
ditioned tactics. Before his return jour-
ney came to an end under the Golden
Gate Bridge, the World War II soldier
who had fought his way across the Pacific
had seen many strange sights and heard
stranger tales. Nowhere did the grim
reality of life in the Pacific correspond
with the idyllic existence pictured in
romantic literature.

The Pacific Ocean is the world of Mel-
ville and Maugham, of white whales and
long-extinct animals and birds, of Lilli-
put and Brobdingnag, and of the long-
sought continent of the South Seas, Terra
Australis Incognita. In its vast reaches
lie countless islands ranging in size from
the tiniest coral outcroppings, so low they
barely break the rays of the setting sun,
to continental Australia, three million
square miles in extent. It has every kind
of clime from sweltering heat to polar
cold, and a startling variety of physical
settings — steaming and noisome jungles,
foggy, frozen, wind-swept islands, deserts,
palm-covered coral atolls, grassland pla-

teaus, parched treeless plains, and live
volcanoes throwing up new islands and
destroying old ones.

Racially and culturally the Pacific
world is a bewildering patchwork woven
out of millenia of isolation and migra-
tion, when small bands of black and
brown men, the "Vikings of the Sunrise,"
pushed their way eastward in fragile
canoes across the whole wide Pacific to
populate its far-flung islands. The white
explorers, when they ventured into these
waters centuries later, found there an
astonishing variety of peoples and cul-
tures. In the mountainous interior of
New Guinea, in the Indies, and in the
Philippines, were the dark, woolly haired,
pygmy Negritos, who, like the aborigine
of Australia, existed in almost neolithic
state, traveling naked in migrant bands
and living on roots, grubs, reptiles, and
game; in Papua the fuzzy-haired natives
lived much like' the Negrito but had a
primitive political and social organiza-
tion in which prestige often depended
upon the number of heads a man could
collect; in the Solomons, the Fijis, and
New Guinea, were the dark-skinned
Melanesians, fierce fighters who carved
intricate and grotesque patterns in wood,
ate human flesh, and were as addicted to
exclusive men's clubs and secret societies
as the American of today; and in the lush,
beautiful islands of the eastern Pacific,
where the Europeans came first, dwelt

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

the tall, gold-skinned Polynesian who,
with more time for leisure in a land
where food abounded, created complex
mythological and religious rites, and de-
veloped intricate social patterns.

In the wake of the European explorers
came the treasure seeker and trader, the
scientist and map maker, the whaler and
planter, the beachcomber and missionary.
They were of all nationalities — Portu-
guese, Spanish, Dutch, English, French,
American, German, and Japanese — and
they brought with them the doubtful
blessings of a superior technology and
civilization. Some exploited the native
mercilessly, cheated and robbed him,
others altered and destroyed his institu-
tions, pushed him off the land, took away
his few possessions and enslaved him. In
the interests of progress, they converted
islands into pastures, plantations, and
mines; ceremonial halls into school-
houses; and, with firearms, gin, and
white man's diseases, depopulated large
areas and annihilated whole tribes.

When the less savory aspects of this
era of "discovery" and exploitation could
no longer be ignored, the great powers
stepped in to stem lawlessness and con-
trol trade. National prestige and power
and the acquisition of strategic bases be-
came the touchstones of policy; colonial
administrators and naval officers the sym-
bol of the new authority. Under official
sponsorship the annexation of the islands,
begun almost four hundred years earlier
with Magellan's great voyage, went for-
ward so rapidly that by the end of the
nineteenth century all of the Pacific
world, "every exposed volcanic crust and
coral outcrop," 1 had been divided among

1 Douglas L. Oliver, The Pacific Islands (Cam-
bridge: Harvard University Press, 195a), p. 253.

the powers. Henceforth, they could gain
additional land there only at each other's
expense. The islands of the Pacific had
become pawns in the great game of inter-
national rivalry and their fate rested on
the moves dictated in the great capitals
of the world.

Even in the twentieth century the
Pacific world has lived up to its reputa-
tion for vastness and variety. The first
World War and the subsequent reshuf-
fling of control under the mandate system
passed almost unnoticed by the islanders,
who, like the natives of Rabaul, were only
bewildered by pronouncement "No more
'um Kaiser; God save 'urn King." But
the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
opened a war which was fought all the
way from Hawaii and Australia to Japan
and the coast of Asia. It was a war waged
in all the elements. Large fleets ranged
the vast ocean searching for the enemy,
aircraft flew hundreds and thousands of
miles over water to drop their bombs,
submarines hunted secretly in the lanes
of empire for their prey, and troops
fought desperately for islands with
strange and unpronounceable names.
Solomon Islanders helped carve airstrips
out of jungle, Fijian and Tongan scouts
performed heroic feats behind the Jap-
anese lines on Bougainville, Papuans
carried supplies over the Owen Stanley
Range to the troops in New Guinea, and
Filipino guerrillas met MacArthur on
the beaches at Leyte. Volcanic wastes
and coral atolls rising in a lonely ocean
were scrutinized from the air and sea and
charted with all the meticulous care of
modern science. Islands where few white
men had ever been were the subject of
serious and lengthy debate at the council
tables in Washington and London before
they became major battlegrounds of the

THE PACIFIC WORLD

war and then, overnight, great bases on
the road to Japan.

The war came to an end with the loud-
est man-made explosion the world had
yet heard. It was in the Pacific — last to
be settled by primitive man, last to be
divided among the colonial powers, and
last to witness the terrible ferocity and
devastation of modern war — that the
atom age opened. The Pacific world, the
home of the head hunter, had, by the
middle of the twentieth century, become
the proving ground of the H-bomb.

The Ocean and Its Islands

The Pacific is the biggest and the deep-
est body of water on the earth. With a
total area of 68,634,000 square miles, it
is twice as large as the Atlantic and covers
more than one-third of the surface of the
entire globe. Measured along the equator
it is about 10,000 miles wide, but its
greatest width, 12,500 miles, is between
Panama and Malaya where it extends
half the distance around the earth. From
Bering Strait on the north, where the
ocean is only 56 miles wide and 300 feet
deep, to the Antarctic Circle, the Pacific
measures 9,300 miles. 2 So vast is its extent
that if a giant bulldozer scraped off all
the land on the surface of the earth to
sea level and dumped it into the ocean,
the Pacific would still have an average
depth of two miles.

The best way to get a true picture of
the immensity of the Pacific world is to

2 Unless otherwise indicated, this section is based
upon O. W. Freeman, ed., Geography of the Pacific
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1951), pp. 1-34; Fair-
field Osborn, ed., The Pacific World (New York:
W. W. Norton k Co., 1944), pp. 21-4?; Don Leet,
Causes of Catastrophe (New York and London:
McGraw-Hill, 1948), pp. 150—53, 189; R. W. Robson,
The Pacific Islands Handbook (New York; The Mac-
millan Company, 1946).

imagine yourself on Mars, observing the
planet Earth through a telescope more
powerful than any yet built. From this
vantage point, the most prominent fea-
ture on the globe before you, dwarfing
the mountains and the continents, is the
Pacific Ocean. But to the earth-bound,
who see their planet most often in Mer-
cator projection on a flat map, the great
ocean shrinks in size and takes on distor-
tions which seriously limit an apprecia-
tion of its actual dimensions. By showing
meridians of longitude as parallel — actu-
ally they converge at the poles — and
by increasing the spread between the
parallels of latitude in proportion to their
distance from the equator, the Mercator
projection produces a double distortion
which has the effect of blowing up the
size of the areas to the north and south.
Thus, Greenland appears larger than the
continental United States on a map
drawn to Mercator projection, whereas
it is actually less than one-third the size.
Conversely, New Guinea, which lies just
below the equator, appears on a flat map
to be only as large as New Zealand, 2,000
miles to the south, but its total area is
actually three times greater and its 1,300-
mile length would reach almost halfway
across the United States.

Though practically all the islands of
the Pacific were formed by violent up-
heavals of the earth's crust and volcanic
activity and consist essentially of hard-
ened lava, their origin is often masked
by a coating of coral rock, the remains
of once-living plants and animals. The
most familiar of these is the coral polyp,
a tiny marine animal that builds its own
shell by extracting lime from sea water,
thus providing the aviation engineers of
World War II with the base for many
of their airfields.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The coral polyp creates not only islands
but atolls and reefs as well. The atoll,
so characteristic of the eastern Pacific,
consists of a chain of coral-encrusted
islets, usually roughly circular or horse-
shoe-shaped in formation and enclosing a
shallow lagoon; the reefs — in this case,
fringing reefs — are platforms built upon
the shoulders of volcanic peaks and ex-
tending between the shore and deep
water. Reefs which are separated from
the shore by a stretch of open water are
called barrier reefs, and the largest of
these, the 1, goo-mile-long Great Barrier
Reef off the northeast coast of Australia,
is probably the greatest monument left
by the tiny polyp.

The coral atoll with its many islets
and reefs is actually the visible portion
of a single land mass resting on a sub-
terranean mountain. It is a haven in a
wilderness of ocean that forever rolls high
to boil whitely against the fringing reefs.
In the lagoon, where the waters are blue
and calm and where fish abound, lie safety
and sustenance. Troops stationed on a
coral atoll during the war admired its
beaches of dazzling sand where thousands
of birds nest, and its rows of graceful
palm trees whose fruit is the lifeblood
of the atoll. And everywhere they saw
coral, shaped and colored in infinite
variety, and incomparably beautiful.

It is the coral atoll that has become
for many the typical South Sea island.
Actually there is no typical Pacific island.
Some are made of the same stuff as conti-
nents, some of volcanic rock, and some of
coral. In climate, size, height, and shape;
in distribution of plant and animal life;
in population, culture, and political affili-
ation, they vary so widely as to defy any
simple classification. Any grouping of

the islands, whatever the basis chosen,
must of necessity be a compromise. But
since it is necessary, for convenience of
description, to adopt some system, per-
haps the most suitable would be that
which was most familiar to the soldier of
World War II, the division of the Pacific
world into five groups — Australia, Indo-
nesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Poly-
nesia.

Before examining this grouping more
closely, it would be well to understand
clearly the meaning of certain geographic
terms-frequently used in connection with
the Pacific world. One of these is the
South Seas. As used by its originator, the
Spanish explorer Balboa who first sighted
the Pacific from his well-publicized peak
in Darien, it referred to the waters off
Panama, then to the trade routes followed
by the Spanish galleons. More recently,
it has been used loosely to refer to that
portion of the ocean south of the equator.
Oceania is another term that is loosely
used. Generally it is taken to mean all
the islands of the Pacific but some author-
ities exclude Australia and the Indies,
and others reserve the term for the
French possessions in the southeast Pa-
cific. There is no disagreement, however,
about the international date line where
one moves mysteriously from one day to
another and which rarely failed to con-
fuse the soldiers who sailed across it. It
is the line which, except for zigzags to
place politically related areas in the same
time zone, coincides with the 180th me-
ridian. When it is Sunday to the east of
the line, it is Monday to the west.

Of the five regions of the Pacific,
Australia is the smallest in terms of ocean
area covered, but the largest in terms of
land mass. About 7,000 statute miles of

THE PACIFIC WORLD

ocean separate it from San Francisco
and 8,000 from the Panama Canal, and,
whether one travels east or west, London
is 1 2, 000 miles distant. These facts alone
explain why for centuries Australia,
closer to but ignored by Asiatic countries,
was for Europeans and Americans an
isolated continent.

The area of Australia is approximately
the same as that of the continental
United States, but most of it is flat and
much of the western and central region is
a desert. The coast line is regular — no
continent has a rhore compact or smooth-
er form — with few large natural harbors.
The climate varies from tropical to tem-
perate, and, since it lies entirely in the
southern hemisphere, its seasons are the
reverse of those in the United States. The
most favorable year-round temperature is
in the east and south, and it is there that
the Europeans first settled, where indus-
try and agriculture flourish, and where
American troops were first stationed dur-
ing the war.

Second of the major divisions of the
Pacific world is Indonesia, the world's
largest archipelago and the treasure house
of the Pacific. 3

The islands of Indonesia are divided
into three groups. The largest and most
important of these, and the one that con-
tains the bulk of the land in the archipela-
go, is the Greatest Sunda group, which
includes Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the
Celebes. Extending eastward from Java to-
ward Australia is a double chain of smaller
islands known as the Lesser Sunda group
in which lie Timor and the famed island of
Bali. To the north, between the Celebes

'Indonesia as a geographical and cultural unit is
not to be confused with the political entity, the
recently established Republic of Indonesia.

and New Guinea, lie the Moluccas or Spice
Islands. The entire archipelago, from the
tip of Sumatra on the west to the Moluccas
on the east, is almost 3,000 miles long, and
from Borneo to Bali, about 1,000 miles
wide. To the south is the Indian Ocean
and to the north the Pacific Ocean and the
South China Sea, that vital water route to
the ports of Asia and Japan. Thus, lying
between two continents and two oceans,
Indonesia is the key to the control of the
lines of communication in one of the most
strategic areas in the world.

Few regions of the world are so rich
in resources, have so even and compara-
tively pleasant a climate, and so much
natural beauty and variety as Indonesia.
The islands have mountainous spines
skirted by extensive plains of great fer-
tility, and a variety of plant and animal
life equaled nowhere on earth. Gold, silk,
spices, tea, and precious stones attracted
adventurers and merchants from India
and China to Indonesia centuries before
the Portuguese and the Dutch ventured
there in search of the luxuries of the
Orient. Since then it has become one of
the chief sources of the world's supply
of rubber and quinine, kapok, pepper,
and tea. It is one of the few places in
the Far East where petroleum is found
and its mineral resources are enormous.
Little wonder that the islands of Indo-
nesia have been coveted by the nations
of Europe and Asia since earliest times.

North of Indonesia, fringing the coast
of Asia, are several large groups of islands
which some geographers consider, with
Indonesia, as part of the Asiatic land
mass. To the American troops the best
known of these were the Philippines.
Comprising almost 7,100 islands, only
one-third of them named, and extending

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Fujiyama, sacred mountain of Japan, dominates the Tokyo Bay area. (Photo taken in 1945
with American warships in the harbor.)

for 1,150 miles from Borneo to Formosa,
the Philippine archipelago is strategically
situated in the geographic heart of the Far
East, athwart the trade routes between
Japan and China to the north and Indo-
nesia and southeast Asia to the south.
Only eleven of the islands have an area
greater than 1,000 square miles and two
of these, Luzon and Mindanao, together
comprise more than two-thirds of the
1 15,600 square miles of land in the archi-
pelago.

Between the Philippines and Japan,
forming a series of stepping stones north-
ward, are Formosa and the Ryukyus.
Named by Portuguese navigators the
"Beautiful Island" and occupied briefly

by the Dutch and the Japanese, Formosa
has been largely under the control of the
Chinese, who named the land Taiwan,
or terrace bay, for its giant green terrace-
like cliffs. The island has an area of 13,887
square miles, almost twice that of the state
of Maryland. About a hundred miles to
the west, across Formosa Strait, lies the
southeast coast of China, and Hong Kong
is only 360 miles away.

The Ryukyu Islands, scene of one of
the last great battles of World War II,
separate the East China Sea from the
Pacific Ocean and extend in a wide arc
from Formosa to Japan. In ancient times
the land was ruled by native dynasties,
but after the fourteenth century the is-

THE PACIFIC WORLD

On Board the Powhatan. Commodore Perry entertains the Japanese Commissioners in
July 1854.

lands paid tribute to China and then,
in the twentieth century, to the Japa-
nese, who finally took over control of the
country.

The Japanese archipelago consists of
four main islands, Hokkaido, Honshu,
Shikoku, and Kyushu, and hundreds of
smaller islands which extend in a 1,250-
mile-long arc off the coast of Asia. The
total land area of the archipelago is about
the same as that of the state of Montana,
147,000 square miles, over half of which
is accounted for by Honshu, the so-called
Japanese mainland and site of the capital
and chief cities. The structure of the
islands is volcanic and mountainous, but
there are few mineral resources and only

20 percent of the land is arable. Most of
Japan's people live on the plains, the most
notable of which is the Kanto Plain,
which includes Tokyo and has a popula-
tion density of 750 to 900 persons to the
square mile. It is on these plains that
the rice, barley, and millet needed to
feed the people is grown and so intensive
is the system of cultivation that as many
as four crops are produced in a year.
Fishing boats swarm over the waters
around Japan and provide that other
staple of the Japanese diet. Meat, milk,
and dairy products are scarce and little
used in Japan, and cheese is so little liked
that it is said even the Japanese rats will
not eat it.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The Japanese islands are the only ones
in the Pacific that have retained their
independence and integrity since earliest
times. According to legend, Japan was
founded by the goddess of the sun and its
rulers are her direct descendants. Before
the middle of the sixteenth century the
islands had a loosely organized feudal
government headed by a shogun, or mili-
tary leader, and virtually independent
lords. After a period of internal conflict
in the sixteenth century, the country
came under new rulers who reformed the
government and followed a policy of
complete isolation from the rest of the
world. It was not until Admiral Perry's
visit in 1853 that Japan entered the
community of nations, began to adopt
western customs and techniques, and
embarked on a policy of expansion.

Eastward across the Pacific, the direc-
tion taken by the successive waves of
migration from Asia, lie the three re-
maining major divisions of the Pacific
world: Micronesia and Melanesia, lying
side by side along the equator, and Poly-
nesia, whose islands fall within a vast
triangle extending from Hawaii to Easter
Island to New Zealand. These names, so
deceptively alike, include areas of wide
variation in climate and physical en-
vironment, and a great diversity in racial
and cultural patterns.

The islands of Micronesia (meaning
tiny islands in Greek) lie north of the
equator, between the Philippines and
the date line, an ocean area larger than
the continental United States. The
amount of land in this huge expanse of
ocean, however, totals only 1,260 square
miles, about as much as Rhode Island.
Most of this land consists of low coral
atolls, but many of the islands are vol-
canic in structure with peaks as high as

3,000 feet. Farthest north and closest to
the Bonins, scene of the bloody battle for
Iwo Jima, are the Mariana Islands, rest-
ing on the edge of a vast submerged
mountain chain jutting deeply into
Micronesia. It is on the southern ex-
tremity of this group that Guam, the
largest island of Micronesia and an im-
portant American base in World War
II, is located. Westernmost of the Micro-
nesian islands and about 500 miles off
the coast of Mindanao are the Palaus
where soldiers and marines also fought
during the war. From here the islands
stretch eastward, south of the Marianas,
for about 2,000 miles through the mys-
terious Caroline Islands, where lie Yap
and Truk. Along the eastern border of
Micronesia, roughly parallel to the date
line, are two other island groups: the
Marshall Islands, to which belong Bikini
and Eniwetok, and the Gilbert Islands,
where lie Makin and Tarawa, the scenes
of important battles in the war against
Japan.

The importance of the tiny islands of
Micronesia is far out of proportion to
their size. For the prehistoric settlers
from Asia they provided malaria-free
homes and, for those who followed later,
stopping places on the voyage farther
eastward. Since Magellan's time they
have been a vital link in Pacific trade
and communication, and a source of
critical materials such as phosphate and
bauxite. Guam served the Spanish gal-
leons, and, 300 years later, the U.S. Navy
and Pan-American aircraft. Truk, once
a Spanish and then a German possession,
became later the nerve center for the
Japanese Imperial Navy in the central
Pacific. Today, naval bases, airports, and
cable and weather stations are scattered
throughout the area and it is here that

THE PACIFIC WORLD

the latest models of the atom and hydro-
gen bombs have been tested.

South of Micronesia, parallel and al-
most equal to it in extent, is Melanesia,
the black islands, so named for the com-
plexion of its people. The islands of
Melanesia form a broad-curving arc that
stretches east and south from Indonesia
to the date line. Though these islands
have certain characteristics in common
— climate, location, and structure — they
represent the widest diversity of cultur-
al and racial patterns in the Pacific
and are grouped together only because it
would be more confusing to group them
separately.

Melanesia is probably the poorest
place in the world to live, to work, or to
fight, a verdict with which all soldiers
unlucky enough to be stationed there
heartily agreed. For convenience, it may
be divided into a western and an eastern
area. The first includes dragon-shaped
New Guinea, second largest island in the
world and almost continental in the
variety of its climate, structure, and plant
and animal life; the islands of the Bis-
marck Archipelago, New Ireland, and
New Britain with its magnificent natural
harbor at Rabaul; and, guarding the
northern approaches to the Bismarck
Archipelago, the Admiralty Islands. To-
gether, these islands comprise one of the
most backward and least-known regions
of the world, peopled largely by the prim-
itive black, fuzzy-haired Papuans, and a
strange variety of bird life — the ostrich-
like cassowary, the brilliantly hued but
raucous bird of paradise, and the snow-
white cockatoo. But their shore lines
contain anchorages large enough to ac-
commodate the combined fleets of the
world, and their position adjacent to
Indonesia and north of Australia gives

them great strategic importance.

The eastern portion of Melanesia con-
sists of six major groups of islands: the
Solomons, Santa Cruz, New Hebrides,
New Caledonia, Loyalty, and Fiji. The
Solomon Islands, which stretch in a
double northwest-southeast chain for 700
miles to the east of New Guinea, include
seven major and many small islands,
whose names sound the roll of notable
American battles: Guadalcanal, Tulagi,
New Georgia, Vella Lavella, and Bou-
gainville. With their damp, hot climate,
malarial mosquito, and well-nigh im-
penetrable jungle they constitute one of
the most forbidding areas on earth.

Southeast of the Solomons lie the New
Hebrides, and below them, New Cale-
donia. To the east and forming the
eastern limit of Melanesia are the Fiji
Islands, whose remarkably well-built na-
tives were once the most famous canni-
bals of the South Seas.

Last and largest of the regions of
Oceania and the most homogeneous of
its cultural and racial groupings, is
Polynesia. It extends from New Zealand,
far to the south and 1,200 miles east of
Australia, to lonely Easter Island, out-
post of Polynesia and home of an ancient
and still unknown civilization, a distance
of 4,000 miles. And from Easter to Mid-
way and Kure, northernmost of the
Hawaiian chain, is almost 1,000 miles
more. In this vast ocean area, four times
larger than the continental United States,
are scattered innumerable bits of land
whose total area, exclusive of New Zea-
land, is no larger than the state of Ver-
mont.

The southern apex of Polynesia con-
sists of two large mountainous islands
and their outlying clusters of land known
collectively as New Zealand. The islands

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

which became a rest area for American
troops during the war, measure about
1,000 miles from north to south and
extend from the subtropical to the sub-
arctic regions with seasons comparable
to but reversed from those in the United
States.

Northernmost of the Polynesian is-
lands is the Hawaiian chain and the
island outposts nearby. The chain ex-
tends for almost 2,000 miles in a north-
west-southeast direction. Located 2,100
miles from San Francisco, 3,400 miles
from Yokohama, and midway between
Panama and Manila, the Hawaiian Is-
lands stand at the crossroads of the air
and water routes of the central Pacific.

Only eight of the Hawaiian islands
are inhabited. The most important are
Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu, where the
capital city and most of the islands' mili-
tary and naval installations are located.
At the opposite end of the Hawaiian
chain, 1,300 miles northwest of Hono-
lulu, is Midway, a lonely coral atoll six
miles in diameter, where the United
States won its first important victory
after Pearl Harbor. Together with Wake
and Johnston Islands, Midway is impor-
tant chiefly as a civil air station and mili-
tary base.

The remaining islands of Polynesia,
with a few minor exceptions, lie below
the equator and east of the Fijis, an area
to which few American troops found
their way. The most important of these
are Tonga, Samoa, and the islands of
French Oceania. The Tonga, or Friendly
Islands as Captain Cook called them, lie
to the east of the Fijis and extend for 200
miles north and south. There are about
150 islands in the group, the largest of
which, Tonga tabu, is about 100 square
miles in extent. The Samoa Islands to

the north extend in an east-west direction
for about 300 miles. Western Samoa,
which includes the two largest islands, is
under the control of New Zealand, and
the eastern portion, including Tutuila
with its splendid harbor of Pago Pago,
is American and was administered by
the U.S. Navy until 1951.

French Oceania is comprised of seven
separate groups of islands, the most im-
portant of which are the Marquesas,
Society, and Tuamotu. The Society
Islands are probably the most storied
islands of Oceania. Almost all of the
eighteenth century explorers of the Pa-
cific stopped there and wrote glowing
accounts of the people and the land.
The largest island in the group and the
one most often associated with tales of
adventure and romance is Tahiti. The
Tuamotu group is one of the largest
archipelagoes in the Pacific, consisting
of seventy-six atolls and stretching south-
east of the Societies for about 1,300
miles. Remote from Asia, "America, or
Australia, subject to destructive hurri-
canes, and lacking fresh water or a fertile
soil, the Tuamotu Islands have never
attracted as much interest as other Poly-
nesian islands.

Far to the north of Polynesia, separat-
ing the Pacific Ocean from the Bering
Sea, lie the Aleutian Islands. From
Alaska they sweep eastward for over
1 ,000 miles, like a finger pointing at Asia.
Poor in resources and scene of some of
the most disagreeable weather in the
world, the islands were for many years
almost ignored by the great powers. But
their strategic location between America
and Asia marked them as outposts for
the defense of Alaska and a target for
the Japanese early in the war.

THE PACIFIC WORLD

The Great Powers in the Pacific

The exploitation and settlement of the
Pacific world by Europeans had begun
with the first voyages of the Portuguese
and Spanish. 4 Under the papal Line of
Demarcation, these two nations had in
1494 divided the world between them,
Spain claiming exclusive rights to all
land 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde
Islands and Portugal all land to the
east. The main objective of Magellan's
voyage had been to find a shorter, west-
ern passage to the Spice Islands, which
the Portuguese held, and thus prove that
these islands fell within Spain's half of
the world. Though he found the western
passage, Magellan failed to establish
Spain's rights to the Spice Islands and
the Portuguese continued to enjoy ex-
clusive control of the highly profitable
trade of the Indies. There was none to
challenge Spain's rights to the rest of the
Pacific world, however, and Spanish gal-
leons sailed regularly between ports in
the new world and the outposts of em-
pire in the Marshalls, the Carolines, the
Marianas, and the Philippines.

The Dutch empire in the Far East
was exclusively economic. The Portu-
guese and Spanish sought converts to
Christianity as well as spice and gold;
the Dutch wasted no energy on saving

4 For accounts of the exploration and exploitation
of the Pacific, see J. C. Beaglehole, The Exploration
of the Pacific (London: A & C Black, Ltd., 1934);
Oliver, The Pacific Islands, pp. 63—103; Freeman, ed.,
Geography of the Pacific, pp. 61—87; Robson, The
Pacific Islands Handbook; Samuel Eliot Morison,
The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1J83-1S60
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1921); Christo-
pher Lloyd, Pacific Horizons, The Exploration of
the Pacific Before Captain Cook (London: Allen &
Unwin, 1946); James A. Williamson, Cook and the
Opening of the Pacific (New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1948).

men's souls or on settlements. With
single-minded persistence they sought
economic advantages in the Far East and
ultimately established a flourishing com-
mercial empire extending as far as For-
mosa and Japan.

The English and French entered the
Pacific much later. Following the prece-
dent set by Sir Francis Drake, they first
sought the wealth of the Pacific in the
holds of Spanish galleons and in weakly
defended Spanish settlements. In the
years from 1675 to 1726 alone there were
over a hundred English and French
voyages into the Pacific, most of them
officially sponsored buccaneering expe-
ditions. But, despite the weakness of
Spain, neither government showed any
inclination to extend its sovereignty into
the Pacific, Instead, it was the whalers,
the traders, and the blackbirders who
first brought western civilization to
Oceania.

The establishment of trading posts,
plantations, and missions was the prel-
ude to annexation. As a result of the
explorations of the eighteenth century,
England and France had established con-
flicting claims to most of the Pacific
world, but because of trouble in Europe
and the belief that these islands were
scarcely worth the risk of war neither
government had pushed its claims. Eng-
land, it is true, had established a penal
colony in Australia shortly after the
American Revolution, but no one op-
posed British claims to the isolated
continent. Nor was there any serious
opposition when France established a
protectorate over Tahiti, then over all
the Society and Marquesas Islands. But
under the urging of the planters, mer-
chants, and missionaries who now had
an important stake in the Pacific, the

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

attitude of the governments changed and
each sought to establish its claims. To
these interests was added later in the
century the need for coaling stations
and strategic bases, a need created by
the use of steamships and the increased
importance of Japan, Australia, and New
Zealand in world politics and economics.

By the middle of the nineteenth cen-
tury, the fight for the most desirable
islands in the Pacific was on in earnest.
England's efforts to settle New Zealand
in the 1820's and i83o's had met strong
opposition from the French and its was
not until 1840 that the British felt their
claim to the islands sufficiently strong to
annex them. The French in their turn
barely nosed out the English in New
Caledonia, which Captain Cook had
discovered, and annexed the island with
its rich mineral resources in 1853. 5

When German vessels began appear-
ing in the Pacific, the race became three-
cornered. In 1868 the Hamburg firm of
Godeffroy began operations from Samoa
and before long had branches in Hawaii,
Fiji, and New Guinea. Though these
activities were not official, they worried
the British enough to make them annex
the Fijis when German vessels began
showing an undue interest in these is-
lands. The French then strengthened
their position in French Oceania by
making Tahiti a colony and formally
annexing the Tuamotus.

"For the rivalry of the Western Powers in the
Pacific, see: Jean I. Brookes, International Rivalry
in the Pacific Islands, 1800-1875 (Berkeley, Calif.:
University of California Press, 1941); Foster R.
Dulles, America in the Pacific (Boston: Houghton
Mitflin Company, 1932); Sylvia Mastcrman, The Ori-
gins oj International Rivalry in Samoa, 1845-1884
(Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1934);
Richard W. Van Alstyne, "Great Britain, the United
States, and Hawaiian Independence, 1850-1855,"
Pacific Historical Review, IV (1935), 15—24.

The German Government began ac-
quiring land in the Pacific in 1884, after
Bismarck had endorsed a strong expan-
sionist policy. In that year the Germans
seized the Bismarck Archipelago and the
northeast coast of New Guinea. The
Dutch had already added western New
Guinea to their empire in 1828 and the
British took the remaining portion of
New Guinea for themselves. The next
year the Germans seized control of the
northern Solomons and, with splendid
disdain for Spanish rights, hoisted the
imperial flag over Yap and established a
protectorate over the Caroline and Mar-
shall Islands. The English and French
thereupon proceeded to help themselves
to additional slices of the Pacific pie.
The two nations in 1887 established
joint dominion (condominium) over
the New Hebrides and the following
year England established a protectorate
over the Cook Islands, Before the end
of the century, Samoa, the Gilbert and
Ellice Islands, the Southern Solomons
and Tonga had been divided among the
powers, with England getting the lion's
share.

The United States embarked on a
colonial career in the Pacific compara-
tively late. With its energies absorbed
in the settlement of a continent and in
the Civil War, the United States was
unable to take advantage of the early
interest of the whalers and traders who
had ventured so daringly and profited
so enormously in the Pacific. But the
ambition to establish mastery of the
ocean and its commerce was almost as
old as the republic, and formed a con-
sistent pattern in the patchwork of west-
ward expansion to the Pacific coast.
Americans had discovered the mouth of
the Columbia River in 1792, and had

THE PACIFIC WORLD

taken the lead in the whaling industry
and the China trade. During the War
of 1812, Captain David Porter raised the
American flag in the Marquesas and
established happy relations with the na-
tives, a relationship which "with the
common sailors and their girls all was
helter skelter."*

But the government showed little in-
clination to follow up Porter's action and
no claim was made to the island. Forty
years later another naval officer, Commo-
dore Matthew G. Perry, met the same
reception to his proposals to establish
bases in the Ryukyus, the Bonins, and
Formosa. Ironically, the most significant
result of his expedition to Japan was to
promote the development of a nation
which in time was to become America's
chief rival in the Pacific.

Despite the hopes and initiative of
many who dreamed of an American em-
pire in the Pacific, the government moved
slowly. In 1856 it passed the Guano Act
which permitted U.S. claims to unoccu-
pied islands for the purpose of working
the guano deposits. These deposits were
much in demand as fertilizer, and claims
were laid to forty-eight islands, largely
in the Line and Phoenix groups. But the
guano, which had required thousands of
years and countless millions of birds to
create, was exhausted in twenty-five years
and with it disappeared American inter-
est in the islands. Most of the islands
finally went to England, but the United
States did establish claims to Howland,
Baker, Palmyra, and other small islands
which proved useful later in building a
military air route across the south Pacific.

The acquisition of Alaska, Midway,
and Samoa also came in this period. The

'Quoted from Captain David Porter's Journal by
Dulles, America in the Pacific, p. 100.

first was acquired, with the Aleutians, by
purchase from Russia in 1867 and gave
the United States many more thousands
of miles of Pacific coast line as well as an
arc of islands extending far across the
north Pacific. Midway, which was dis-
covered by an American vessel in 1859,
was formally annexed the same year as
the Alaska purchase, and about the same
time other small islands between it and
Hawaii were acquired. But all proposals
to take over the Hawaiian Islands, where
the Americans held a dominant position,
were rejected by Congress. The United
States did, however, at the urging of the
Navy acquire the right to establish a
naval station at Pearl Harbor in 1884.
It was also largely through the efforts of
the Navy, backed by commercial groups,
that the United States gained the harbor
of Pago Pago in 1877. More than twenty
years later the United States acquired
Tutuila in eastern Samoa while Ger-
many took the western half of the islands.
England, in return for German conces-
sions in Tonga and the Solomons, with-
drew altogether from Samoa.

American expansion into the Pacific
reached its peak with the annexation of
the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands at
the end of the century. As early as 1843
there were more Americans in Hawaii
than all other foreign nationals, and the
value of their property was over one
million dollars. They held posts of re-
sponsibility in the government and virtu-
ally controlled the political and economic
life of the island. For years they urged
annexation by the mother country and
by i860 the issue was being debated
hotly in the United States. Finally in
1893 the Americans in Hawaii overthrew
the native monarch, established a repub-
lic, and requested annexation to the Unit-

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

ed States. The offer was rejected, largely
because of President Cleveland's opposi-
tion, but the new republic of Hawaii was
recognized as the rightful government
and, with support from important in-
terests in the United States, continued
to press for annexation. The Spanish-
American war and the increasing interest
of the Japanese in the islands led to a
change of attitude. On 1 1 July 1 898, by a
joint resolution of Congress, the Repub-
lic of Hawaii was annexed by the United
States.

The great prize of the Spanish -Ameri-
can War, which ousted Spain from the
Pacific and made the United States a full-
fledged colonial power, was the Philip-
pine islands. But having won the islands
by force, the American Government still
had to decide what to do with them.
Germany, fishing in troubled waters, had
a fleet in Manila Bay and was ready to
take over if the United States defaulted.
McKinley's decision was for annexation,
and formal cession of the islands, as well
as of Guam, was made on 10 December
1898 with the signing of the Treaty of
Paris. Few considered the other Marianas
and the Carolines worth taking and Ger-
many purchased them from Spain soon
after.

The construction of the Panama Canal
completed the transformation of the
United States into a Pacific power. The
first Spanish explorers had searched eager-
ly for a way around America and had
found the westward passage far to the
south. But this route was a long one, and
Americans during the California gold
rush had as often gone overland across
the disease-ridden Isthmus of Panama to
save time. A water route across the isth-
mus from the Atlantic to the Pacific
would cut off almost 10,000 miles from

the journey, and the French began work
on a canal in 1880. This effort failed,
but American engineers took up the task
in 1902 and when the canal opened in
1914 the United States gained control of
the eastern gateway to the Pacific.

Last to enter the Pacific in search of
empire, though itself a Pacific power, was
Japan. In the years after Commodore
Perry's visit, Japan, emulating the West-
ern Powers, began to extend its control
over weaker neighbors and to push its
boundaries north and south. Between
1875 and 1880 the Japanese acquired the
Kurils (Chishima) , the Bonins, and the
Ryukyus. The Sino-Japanese War in
1894-95 gave Japan Formosa and the
Pescadores, accorded Korea a nominal
independence, and demonstrated to a
surprised world that Japan was a factor
to be reckoned with in the Far East. In
the treaty ending the war China also
ceded to Japan the Liaotung Peninsula
in southern Manchuria, but Russia,
France, and Germany forced Japan to
disgorge the peninsula. 7

American annexation of Hawaii and,
next year, of the Philippines aroused
strong hostility in a Japan which was al-
ready angered by the French, Russian,
and German interference with the provi-
sions of the treaty with China. Many
Japanese were convinced that the aims
of the nation could only be achieved by
force, and the influence of the Army and
Navy, already considerable, increased
sharply. As a result Japan embarked on
a military and naval expansion program
designed to make the nation so strong

'It is interesting to note that acceptance of the
Russian, German, and French terms was decided by
a seidan, that is, a sacred or personal decision of the
Emperor Meiji, and was the only precedent for Hiro-
hito's personal decision to end the war in 1945.

THE PACIFIC WORLD

that it would never again suffer so humil-
iating an experience. 8

Japan's first opportunity to test its new
strength came in 1904 when, without the
formality of a declaration of war, it at-
tacked Russia. Despite unqualified suc-
cess on land and sea, the Japanese were
anxious to end the war within a year
because of the heavy drain on the na-
tion's resources. When President Theo-
dore Roosevelt offered to mediate the
dispute, therefore, both nations promptly
accepted and some months later the
Treaty of Portsmouth was signed. By
this treaty, Russia recognized Japan's
paramount interests in Korea and trans-
ferred to Japan the lease on the Liaotung
Peninsula, railway and mining privileges
in southern Manchuria, and the south-
ern half of Sakhalin. Five years later
Japan added Korea to its empire, and,
by secret agreement with Russia, made
southern Manchuria a Japanese sphere
of influence.

Japan's opportunity to expand into
the Pacific came with the outbreak of war
in Europe in 1914. Using the pretext
of the alliance with England signed in
1902, Japan declared war on Germany
and seized the Marshall, Caroline and
Mariana (except Guam) Islands, thus
extending the Japanese empire almost
3,000 miles into the Pacific. Other
Pacific powers, it should be noted, did
not let this opportunity for expansion

s For Japanese expansion and Japan's relations to
other powers in the Pacific, see Roy H. Akagi, Japan's
Foreign Relations, 1542—1936 (Tokyo: Hokuseido
Press, 1937); Payson J. Treat, Diplomatic Relations
Betxoeen the United States and Japan, iS^—iSg^,
2 vols. (Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford University Press,
1932); Kenneth Scott Latourette, The History of
Japan (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1947);
Paul Clyde, The Far East (New York: Prentice-Hall,
1947).

go by without gain to themselves. Aus-
tralia took over the German possessions
in New Guinea, the Solomons, and the
Bismark Archipelago, and New Zealand
troops occupied western Samoa. Japan,
not content with expansion into the
Pacific, took over Germany's interests in
the Shantung Province of China and the
port of Tsingtao as well. The following
year, 1915, in the Twenty-One Demands,
Japan requested from China enormous
additional economic and political con-
cessions which, had they been granted,
would have brought that nation under
Japanese domination. But a vigorous
protest from the United States, and other
reasons, forced Japan to withdraw the
most drastic of the demands.

By the Treaty of Versailles, Japan's
wartime acquisitions, already approved
by secret agreements with Britain,
France, Russia, and Italy, were formally
sanctioned. President Wilson opposed
strongly the cession of the German is-
lands to Japan, asserting that their only
value was military and that their con-
trol by Japan would make the defense
of the Philippines virtually impossible.
But he failed to win over the Allies and
Japan was granted under a mandate the
islands it had seized, while England and
Australia secured similar sanction for
their actions.

With the Treaty of Versailles, the
division of the Pacific world was com-
plete. Japan was the dominant power
in the western Pacific, north of the
equator, and held almost all of Micro-
nesia. The United States controlled the
northeast Pacific with Hawaii and the
Aleutians, and held outposts deep in
Japanese-controlled territory in Guam,
Wake, and the Philippines. The British
Empire was dominant in the central and

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

southwestern Pacific, from Samoa west-
ward to Australia and New Guinea, in-
cluding almost all of Melanesia. France
held most of the southeast Pacific,
French Oceania, as well as New Caledo-
nia, and, jointly with the English, the
New Hebrides. The Dutch still had
their rich empire in the East Indies, and
in addition held the western portion of
New Guinea. No nation could expand

in the Pacific except at the expense of
another and in violation of existing
treaties. For Japan, this meant conflict
with the stronger Western Powers. But
on the Asiatic continent lay a weakened
China and it was there that Japan sought
the fulfillment for her dreams of empire.
And it was there, in China and Man-
churia, that the seeds for conflict with
the United States were sown.

PART ONE
THE ROAD TO WAR

Am I deceived, or was there a clash of arms? I am not deceived, it was
a clash of arms; Mars approaches, and, approaching, gave the sign of war.

Ovid

For as the nature of foul weather lieth not in a shower of rain but in an
inclination thereto of many days together; so the nature of war consisteth
not in actual fighting but in the known disposition thereto during all the
time there is no assurance to the contrary. Thomas Hobbes

CHAPTER I

The Beginnings of Pacific Strategy

Covenants without swords are but words.

Hobbes, Leviathan

At the turn of the twentieth century,
after the war with Spain, the United
States for the first time in a hundred
years found itself involved closely in the
affairs of other nations. Possession of
the Philippine Islands, Guam, Hawaii,
and part of the Samoan archipelago had
made the United States a world power
and imposed on it the grave responsibil-
ity of defending outposts far from its
shores. Such a defense rested, as Admiral
Alfred Thayer Mahan had demonstrated,
on sea power, on the possession of naval
bases and a powerful fleet. Without
these, no island garrison could hope to
prevail against a naval power strong
enough to gain supremacy in the Pacific.

Theodore Roosevelt, a close friend
and student of Admiral Mahan, under-
stood the importance of sea power and
it was no accident that during his admin-
istration steps were taken to strengthen
the Navy and to build the Panama
Canal. But the work begun by him was
not pushed vigorously in the years that
followed. The American people were
overwhelmingly isolationist and unwill-
ing to pay the price of colonial empire.
Thus, almost from the beginning of
America's venture into imperialism the
nation committed itself to political ob-
jectives but would not maintain the
naval and military forces required to
suppon these objectives. It is against

this background that American strategy
in the Pacific and plans for the defense
of U.S. island outposts must be viewed;
it explains many of the seeming incon-
sistencies between policies and plans.

Early Plans for Defense

The defense of the 7,100 islands in
the Philippine archipelago, lying in an
exposed position 7,000 miles from the
west coast of the United States, was for
over thirty years the basic problem of
Pacific strategy. From the start it was
apparent that it would be impossible to
defend all or even the major islands. A
choice had to be made, and it fell inevi-
tably on Luzon, the largest, richest, and
most important of the islands. Only a
few months after his victory in Manila
Bay, Admiral Dewey, asserting that
Luzon was the most valuable island in
the Philippines, "whether considered
from a commercial or military stand-
point," recommended that a naval sta-
tion be established there. 1 In the years
that followed there was never any devia-
tion from this view. Down to the out-
break of World War II that island, and

'Ltr, Dewey to John D. Long, Secy Navy, 29 Aug
98, quoted in O. J. Clinard, "Japan's Influence on
American Naval Power, 1897—1917," University of
California Publications in History, vol. XXXVI
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1947), p 27.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

especially the Manila area with its fine
harbor and transportation facilities, re-
mained the chief problem for American
strategic planners.

Though the basic element of Pacific
strategy was a strong Navy with support-
ing bases, this alone would not suffice.
Successful defense of an insular position
like the Philippines required an Army
garrison, coastal fortifications, and mo-
bile forces to resist invasion. And per-
haps as important as any of these was
the close co-operation of the Army and
Navy. In a sense, this was the vital ele-
ment that would blend the ingredients
of defense into a strategic formula for
victory.

The mechanism devised for Army-
Navy co-operation was the Joint Board,
established in 1903 by the two service
Secretaries. The board, consisting of
eight members — four from the Army's
General Staff and four from the General
Board of the Navy — had a modest task
initially. To it came all matters that
required co-operation between the two
services. It had no executive functions
or command authority, and reported to
the War and Navy Secretaries. Its recom-
mendations were purely advisory, and
became effective only upon approval by
both Secretaries, and, in some cases, by
the President himself. 2

Almost from the start, the main task
of the Joint Board was the development
of war plans. The impetus was provided
by Lt. Gen. Adna R. Chaffee, Army
Chief of Staff, who proposed in April

2 The board initially had no staff and its member-
ship was by individual appointment rather than by
office. In 1919, is was reorganized, given a Joint Plan-
ning Committee which functioned as a working
group, and its membership reduced to six — the chiefs
of the services, their deputies, and the chiefs of the
two War Plans Divisions.

1904, shortly after Japan's attack on
Russia, that the Joint Board develop a
series of plans for joint action in an
emergency requiring the co-operation of
the services. These plans, he suggested,
should be based upon studies developed
by the Army General Staff and the Gen-
eral Board of the Navy. 3

From General Chaffee's proposal
stemmed a series of war plans known as
the color plans. Each of these plans was
designed to meet a specific emergency
designated by a color corresponding usu-
ally to the code name of the nation in-
volved — Red for Great Britain, Black
for Germany, Green for Mexico, Orange
for Japan. On the basis of these joint
color plans each of the services developed
its own plan to guide its operations in
an emergency, and Army and Navy field
and fleet commanders drew up the plans
to carry out these operations. In some
cases, the early war plans were little
more than abstract exercises and bore
little relation to actual events. But in
the case of Japan, the Orange plans were
kept under constant review and revised
frequently to accord with changes in the
international scene.

The first serious examination of plans
to resist a Japanese attack came in the
summer of 1907. At that time tension
between the United States and Japan,
which had begun with the Japanese vic-
tory over Russia in 1905 and the San
Francisco School Board segregation order
in 1906, reached the proportions of a
war scare. War seemed imminent and
the protection of American interests in
the Far East, especially of the newly

3 Ltr, Chaffee to Secy War, 28 Apr 04; Mins, JB
Mtgs, 23 May and 24 Jun 04; Ltr, Brig Gen Tasker H.
Bliss to Secy JB, 10 Jun 04, all in JB 325 (1903-1905),
ser. 16.

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

acquired Philippine Islands, became an
urgent problem. On 18 June 1907, in
response to an inquiry from President
Theodore Roosevelt, the Joint Board
recommended that the fleet be sent to
the Orient as soon as possible and that
Army and Navy forces in the Philippines
be immediately deployed in such a man-
ner as to protect the naval station at
Subic Bay. Because of Japan's strength,
the Joint Board stated, "The United
States would be compelled ... to take
a defensive attitude in the Pacific and
maintain that attitude until reinforce-
ments could be sent. . . . " 4 This view,
adopted by necessity in 1907, became
finally the keystone of America's strategy
in the Pacific and the basis of all plan-
ning for a war against Japan.

The crisis of the summer of 1907,
though it passed without incident,
brought into sharp focus two weaknesses
of America's position in the Pacific: the
need for a major naval base in the area
and the fact that the Philippine Islands
could not be held except at great ex-
pense and with a large force. The islands,
wrote Roosevelt at the height of the
crisis, "form our heel of Achilles. . . .
I would rather see this nation fight all
her life than to see her give them up to
Japan or to any other nation under
duress." 5

The question of naval bases was de-
bated by the Joint Board and by Con-
gressional committees during the months
that followed. Two questions had to be
decided: first, whether America's major

1 A summary of the Joint Board's views is contained
in Ltr, Maj Gen Fred C. Ainsworth, TAG, to Maj
Gen Leonard Wood, CG Philippines Div, 6 Jul 07,
AG 1260092, National Archives.

"Ltr, Roosevelt to Taft, 21 Aug 07, quoted by
Henry F. Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt (New York:
Harcourt. Brace and Company, 1931), pp. 408-09.

View From Manila Bay, showing Cor-
regidor Island at center with Caballo Island
al lower left and a portion of Bataan Pen-
insula at upper right.

base in the Pacific should be located in
the Philippines or Hawaii; and second,
whether the Philippines base should be
in Subic Bay or Manila Bay. Though
strong representation was made — espe-
cially by the Army — for locating the
major base in the Philippine Islands,
the Joint Board in January 1908 selected
Pearl Harbor. The Hawaiian base, the
board pointed out, was not designed to
defend the Hawaiian Islands alone but
to provide "a buffer of defense'' for the
entire Pacific coast and to lay the basis
for American naval supremacy in the
Pacific. In May of that year Congress
authorized construction of the Pearl
Harbor base and appropriated $1,000,000
for the purpose. This step, the House
Naval Affairs Committee believed, would
constitute in the future "one of the
strongest factors in the prevention of

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

war with any powers in the Far East." 6
Though the decision had been made
to locate America's Pacific bastion in
Hawaii, it was still necessary to provide
for the defense of the Philippines, 5,000
miles away. A naval repair station and
a secondary fleet base would have to be
constructed in the islands, but there was
strong disagreement even on this ques-
tion. The Navy favored Subic Bay but
the Army asserted that a base there
would be indefensible against land at-
tack and that Manila Bay, for a variety
of reasons, should be selected. The Joint
Board finally decided in favor of Cavite,
on the south shore of Manila Bay, and
the Army adopted a plan to concentrate
its defenses in and around that bay on
the islands in its narrow neck — Corregi-
dor, Caballo, El Fraile, and Carabao —
thus screening the naval base as well as
the capital and chief city of the islands.
It was this concept — the defense of the
Manila Bay area and the fortification of
Corregidor and its neighboring islands —
that guided American planners until the
outbreak of war in 1941. 7

But no system of fortifications could
guarantee the defense of the islands. The
essential thing, as Maj. Gen. Leonard
Wood pointed out at the time, was a
strong fleet based in the Philippines.
"Once sea control is lost," he asserted,
"the enemy can move troops in force
and the question then becomes one of
time." 8 Congress and the Joint Board,

'House Reports, No. 1385, 60th Cong., 1st sess.,
4 Apr 08, pp. 2-3.

'Cable, Wood to Ainsworth, 1 Nov 07; Ltrs, Lt Col
Frederic V. Abbot and Capt Stanley D. Erabick to
Wood, 27 Nov 07, both in AG 1460092, National
Archives; Memos, JB for Secys War and Navy, 31 Jan
and 5 Mar 08, JB 325.

8 Ltr, Wood to Ainsworth, 23 Dec 07, AG 1260092,
National Archives,

by concentrating fleet facilities in Hawaii,
had, in effect, relegated the Philippines
to a secondary place in strategic plans
for the Pacific and made all hopes for
its defense dependent upon the security
of Hawaii and the ability of the fleet to
move westward from Pearl Harbor.

The ORANGE Plan

The first Orange plans were hardly
plans at all but rather statements of
principles, which, it was hoped, could
be followed in the event of war with
Japan. By 1913, the strategic principles
of the plan had been exhaustively studied
and were well understood. In case of
war with Japan, it was assumed that the
Philippines would be the enemy's first
objective. Defense of the islands was
recognized as dependent on the Battle
Fleet, which, on outbreak of war, would
have to make its way from the Caribbean
area around the Cape — the Panama
Canal was not yet completed — and then
across the wide Pacific. Along the way
the fleet would have to secure its line of
communication, using the incomplete
base at Pearl Harbor and the undevel-
oped harbor at Guam. Once the fleet
was established in Philippine waters,
it could relieve the defenders, who pre-
sumably would have held on during this
period, variously estimated at three and
four months. Thereafter, Army forces,
reinforced by a steady stream of men and
supplies, could take the offensive on the
ground while the Navy contested for
control of the western Pacific. 9

"Memo, Brig Gen Montgomery M. Macomb, Chief,
War College Div, for Chief of Staff, 13 Apr 15, sub:
Plan for War With Japan, WCD 7820-16; Army Plan
in Case of War in the Pacific Before the Panama
Canal Is Completed, 19 May 13, approved by CofS,
20 May 13, by order of Secy War, WCD 7820-13.

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

During World War I planning for
war in the Pacific was discontinued ex-
cept for a brief flurry of activity in 1916,
when Japanese vessels appeared off the
Philippine Islands. And in the postwar
period, the planners faced a situation
considerably different from that of the
earlier years. Then, Germany had been
the chief threat to the peace in Europe.
Now, with Germany in defeat and
Russia in the throes of revolution, only
Great Britain was in a position to engage
the United States in war with any pros-
pect of success. But economically and
financially, England was in no condition
for another conflict and there was no
sentiment for war on either side of the
Atlantic.

The situation in the Pacific and Far
East was different. Between Japan and
the United States there were a number
of unresolved differences and a reservoir
of misunderstanding and ill will that
made the possibility of conflict in that
area much more likely than in the Atlan-
tic. Moreover, Japan's position had been
greatly strengthened as a result of the
war and the treaties that followed. In
the view of the planners, the most prob-
able enemy in the foreseeable future was
Japan. Thus, U.S. strategic thought in
the years from 1919 to 1938 was largely
concentrated on the problems presented
by a conflict arising out of Japanese
aggression against American interests or
territory in the Far East.

The strategic position of the United
States in the Far East was altered funda-
mentally by World War I. Military avia-
tion had proved itself during the war
and though its enormous potentialities
for naval warfare were not yet fully
appreciated it was still a factor to be
considered. Of more immediate impor-

tance was the transfer to Japan of the
German islands in the Central Pacific.
President Wilson had opposed this move
at Versailles, arguing that it would place
Japan astride the U.S. line of communi-
cations and make the defense of the
Philippines virtually impossible. But
Wilson had been overruled by the other
Allied leaders, and Japan had acquired
the islands under a mandate from the
League of Nations which prohibited
their fortification. "At one time," wrote
Capt. Harry E. Yarnell, one of the Navy
planners, "it was the plan of the Navy
Department to send a fleet to the Philip-
pines on the outbreak of war. I am
sure that this would not be done at the
present time ... it seems certain that
in the course of time the Philippines
and whatever forces we may have there
will be captured." 10

Japan's position was further strength-
ened during these years by the agree-
ments reached at the Washington
Conference of 1921-22. In the Five-Pow-
er Naval Treaty concluded in February
1922, Japan accepted the short end of
the 5:5:3 ratio in capital ships in return
for a promise from the other powers that
they would preserve the status quo with
regard to their bases in the western
Pacific. This meant, in effect, that the
United States would refrain from further
fortifying its bases in the Philippines,
Guam, the Aleutians, and other islands
west of Hawaii, and that Great Britain
would do the same in its possessions.
The net result of this bargain was to
give Japan a strong advantage over the
Western Powers in the Pacific, for the
agreement virtually removed the threat

u Ltr, Yarnell to Col John McA. Palmer, 25 Apr 19,
JB 325, ser. 28 C.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Washington Conference, 1921-22. Seated at table, from left: Prince lyesato Tokugawa
(Japan), Jules Jusserand (France), Albert Sarraut (France), Rene Viviani (France),
Aristide Briand (France), Oscar W. Underwood (U.S.), Elihu Root (U.S.), Henry Cabot
Lodge (U.S.), Charles Evans Hughes (U.S.), Lord A. J. Balfour (Britain), Lord Lee of
Fareharn (Britain), Sir Aukland Geddes (Britain), Sir Robert Borden (Canada), G. F. Pearce
(Australia), Sir John Salmond (New Zealand), and Srinivasa Sastri (India).

posed by the Philippines, Guam, and
Hong Kong. The British still had Singa-
pore, but the United States had lost the
opportunity to develop adequate base
facilities in the Ear Pacific. With that
loss, wrote Capt. Dudley W. Knox, went
all chances of defending the Philippines
and providing a military sanction for
American policy. 11

"Capt Dudley W. Knox (USN), The Eclipse of
American Sea Power (New York: American Army 8c
Navy Journal, Inc., 1922), pp. 135—36.

The Washington Conference brought
the Philippines to the fore in a way
apparently neither intended nor fore-
seen. Of the bases available for opera-
tions in the western Pacific they alone
had facilities capable of supporting a
naval force large enough to challenge
Japanese supremacy in that region.
Guam, which up to this time had been
regarded as a more desirable base site
than the Philippines but which had not
yet been developed, now became of sec-

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

ondary importance. The Aleutians and
Samoa were too remote to serve the pur-
pose. The Philippines were, therefore,
in the words of the recently formed
Planning Committee, set up in 1919 to
assist the Joint Board, "our most valu-
able strategic possession in the Western
Pacific." So long as the Five-Power Naval
Treaty remained in effect, they argued,
the islands' fleet facilities and coastal
defenses should be maintained to the
extent permitted. At the same time, the
Philippine garrison should be so strength-
ened, urged the planners, as to make the
capture of the islands by any enemy "a
costly major operation." 12

By now the situation in the Pacific
had so invalidated the assumption of
earlier planning for a war with Japan
as to require a complete review of strategy
and the preparation of new plans. This
need was emphasized by the Army plan-
ners when they submitted to the Joint
Planning Committee in December 1921
a "Preliminary Estimate of the Situa-
tion," together with a recommendation
for a new joint Army-Navy Orange plan.
"It may safely be assumed," they de-
clared, "that Japan is the most probable
enemy." That nation's policy of expan-
sion and its evident intention to secure
a dominant position in the Far East,
argued the Army planners, were bound
to come into conflict sooner or later with
American interests and policy in that
region. Unless either or both countries
showed some disposition to give way, a
contingency the planners regarded as
unlikely, this conflict of interests would
lead ultimately to war. 13

"Ltr, JPC to JB, 13 Apr 22, sub: Defense of Phil,
JB 303, ser. 179.

"Preliminary Estimate of the Situation, War Plan
Ora\t.e, 3 Dec 21, WPD 368.

The Navy planners had by this time
completed their own estimate of the
situation in the Pacific. Their conclu-
sion, submitted at the end of July 1922,
was that the Japanese could, if they
wished, take both the Philippines and
Guam before the U.S. Fleet could reach
the western Pacific. The role of the
Philippine garrison, as the Navy plan-
ners saw it, would be to hold out as long
as possible and to make the operation
as costly as possible for the enemy. What
would happen to the garrison thereafter
the planners did not specify, but they
hoped that the sacrifice of American
forces would be justified by the damage
done to the enemy. 14

But Leonard Wood, Governor-Gen-
eral of the Philippines, disagreed strongly
with the Navy estimate. A former Chief
of Staff of the U.S. Army and commander
of the Philippine Department, with
influential friends in Washington, his
word carried considerable weight. In
his view, the "assumption on the part
of the Navy that in case of war with
Japan the Philippine Islands could not
be defended, must be abandoned, and a
long war waged to take them back and
re-establish ourselves in the Far East"
was a fatal error. Such a course, he told
the Secretary of War with feeling, would
damage the prestige of the United States
in the eyes of the world, would have a
"disintegrating and demoralizing effect
upon our people," and could end
only in national dishonor. " I feel sure,"
General Wood told the Secretary, "that
when you and the President realize the
effect of this on our future . . . , steps
will be taken at once to see that the
Army and Navy assume that the Philip-

"Ltr, Secy War to CG Phil Dept, 27 Jul 22, cited in
Ltr, Wood to Secy War, 5 Feb 23, JB 305, ser. 209.

592496 0-62-4

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

pine Islands must not only be abso-
lutely defended but succored by the
Fleet." And in words reminiscent of a
later day he warned the Secretary that
the American people would not stand
for a policy that required "abandonment
of American posts, American soldiers,
an American fleet, American citizens in
the Far East. . . ." 1B

Just how the fleet would come to the
rescue of the Philippines in the event of
war, Governor Wood did not specify, but
he felt sure the planners in Washington
could solve the problem. They had
undoubtedly reached their conclusions,
he observed sympathetically, when faced
by seemingly impossible tasks. But
American ingenuity was equal to any
task, declared General Wood, and the
planners "should be directed to keep
alive that problem and work it out to
show just what could be done to make
it possible." And as a starting point, he
recommended that the Navy take for its
mission: "First, the relief of the Philip-
pines and the establishment of its base
in Manila as an essential preliminary to
the accomplishment of our main objec-
tive. . . . Second, the destruction of
the Japanese fleet." ie That the Navy
would agree to so flagrant a violation of
the first canon of naval strategy, that
the primary mission of a fleet was always
to destroy the enemy fleet, was, to say
the least, doubtful.

Whether as a result of Governor
Wood's intervention or for other reasons,
the final estimate presented to the Joint
Board as a basis for the preparation of a
war plan carefully skirted the question of
the abandonment of the Philippines. A
war with Japan, the Joint Planners now

"Ltr, Wood to Secy War, 5 Feb 23, JB 305, ser. 209.
'"Ibid.

declared, would be primarily naval in
character and would require offensive
sea and air operations against Japanese
naval forces and vital sea communica-
tions. The first concern of the Army and
Navy in such a war, therefore, would be
"to establish at the earliest possible date
American sea power in the Western
Pacific in strength superior to that of
Japan." To accomplish this, the United
States would require a base in that area
capable of serving the entire U.S. Fleet.
Since the only base west of Pearl Harbor
large enough for this purpose was in
Manila Bay, it would be essential, said
the planners, to hold the bay in case of
war and be ready to rush reinforcements,
under naval protection, to the islands in
time to prevent their capture. An addi-
tional mission recommended by the plan-
ners was the early capture of bases in the
Japanese-mandated islands along the line
of communications to the Philippines. 17
Within two weeks the Joint Board had
taken action. On 7 July 1923, General
of the Armies John J. Pershing, senior
member of the board, noted the board's
agreement with the study made by the
planners and recommended to the Secre-
taries of War and Navy that it be
approved as the basis for the preparation
of a war plan. The Joint Board,
Pershing told the Secretaries, had reached
the following conclusions with regard to
the Philippines:

1. That the islands were of great strategic
value to the United States for they provided
the best available bases for military and
naval forces operating in defense of Amer-
ican interests in the Far East.

"Memo, JPC to JB, 25 May 23, sub: Synopsis of the
Joint Army and Navy Estimate of the Orange Situa-
tion, JB 325, ser. 207. See also General Board 425,
ser. 1 136, 26 Apr 23.

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

2. That their capture by Japan would
seriously affect American prestige and make
offensive operations in the western Pacific
extremely difficult.

3. That the recapture of the islands would
be a long and costly undertaking, requiring
a far greater effort than timely measures for
defense.

4. That the national interests and mili-
tary necessity require that the Philippines
be made as strong as possible in peacetime. 18

With the Secretaries' approval, given
three days later, work on Joint War Plan
Orange moved forward rapidly. As a
matter of fact, the planners had by this
time already adopted the basic strategic
concept to guide American forces in a
war with Japan. Such a war, they fore-
saw, would be primarily naval in charac-
ter. The United States, in their view,
should take the offensive and engage in
operations "directed toward the isolation
and harassment of Japan." These opera-
tions they thought could be achieved by
gaining control of Japan's vital sea com-
munications and by offensive air and
naval operations against Japan's naval
forces and economic life. If these meas-
ures alone did not bring Japan to her
knees, then the planners would take
"such further action as may be required
to win the war." The major role in a
war fought as the planners envisaged it
would be played by the Navy, To the
Army would fall the vital task of holding
the base in Manila Bay until the arrival
of the fleet. Without it, the fleet would
be unable to operate in Far Eastern
waters.

The concept of "an offensive war,
primarily naval" was firmly embodied in
the plan finally evolved. From it stemmed

the emphasis placed on sea power and
a naval base in the Philippines. The first
concern of the United States in a war
with Japan and the initial mission of the
Army and Navy, declared the Joint Plan-
ners, would be to establish sea power in
the western Pacific "in strength superior
to that of Japan." This, they recognized,
would require a "main outlying base" in
that region. Manila Bay, it was acknowl-
edged, best met the requirements for
such a base and its retention would be
essential in the event of hostilities. Thus,
the primary mission of the Philippine
Department in the Orange plan was to
hold Manila Bay. 19

One notable aspect of the Orange
plan was its provision for a unified com-
mand and a joint staff. Normal practice
dictated separate Army and Navy com-
manders, acting under the principle of
co-operation in joint operations. But the
planners had come to the conclusion that
such operations required "that all Army
and Navy forces . . . form one command
and that its commander have the whole
responsibility and full power." 20 They
therefore included in the plan provision
for a single commander, to be designated
by the President and to have full power
commensurate with his responsibility.

In making this proposal the planners
were far ahead of their time. Neither of
the services was ready to operate in this
way and there was as yet no doctrine or
set of principles to guide commanders
with such wide authority. The Joint
Board, therefore, though it accepted
without question most of the provisions
of the Orange plan submitted by the
Joint Planning Committee, returned

"Memo, Pershing to Secy War, 7 Jul 2g, sub:
Defense of Phil, JB 305, ser. 208. A similar memoran-
dum went to the Secretary of the Navy.

"Draft, Joint Army-Navy Basic War Plan Orange,
12 Mar 24, JB 325, ser. 228.
"Ibid.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

that portion dealing with command.
The planners, the board instructed,
were to eliminate the objectionable
paragraphs. 21

Surprisingly enough, the planners
balked at these instructions and tried
once more to convince their superiors of
the necessity for unity of command. The
plan, they pointed out, was the product
of over three years of intensive study
during which the problem of command
in joint operations had been considered
carefully and from every viewpoint. On
the basis of their exhaustive study of the
subject, the planners told the Joint
Board, they could not recommend that
operations on so large a scale and of such
grave importance as those contemplated
in the Orange plan "could be entrusted
to co-operation alone." 22

This stand availed the committee lit-
tle for the Joint Board returned the plan
again, this time with a more strongly
worded injunction to remove the offend-
ing references to unity of command. 23
The planners had no choice now but to
make the required changes. Striking out
all references to unity of command and
a supreme commander and substituting
the familiar formulas of "mutual co-
operation" and "paramount interest,"
they resubmitted the plan on 16 July.
This the board accepted and on its rec-
ommendation the Secretary of War and
the Secretary of the Navy gave their
formal approval. 24

21 Ltr, Secy JB to JPC, 7 Jun 24, JB 325, ser. 228.

J3 Ltr, Col John L. De Witt, and Capt William H.
Standley (USN) to JB, 20 Jun 24, sub: Joint Army-
Navy Basic War Plan Orange, JB 325, ser. 228.

23 Memo, Secy JB to JPC, 10 Jul 24, sub: Joint
Army-Navy War Plan Orange, JB 325, ser. 228.

"Ltrs, Col Walter Krueger and Standley, 16 Jul 24;
Rear Adm Edward W. Eberle, JB to Secy War, 15
Aug 24, sub: Joint Army-Navy Basic War Plan
Orange, JB 325, ser. 228.

The final approval of War Plan
Orange in September 1924 gave the
United States for the first time since the
end of World War I a broad outline of
operations and objectives in the event of
war with Japan. But the plan was really
more a statement of hopes than a real-
istic appraisal of what could be done.
To have carried out such a plan in 1925
was far beyond the capabilities of either
service. The entire military establish-
ment in the Philippines did not then
number more than 15,000 men. The
50,000 men who, according to the plan,
were to sail for the Philippines from the
west coast on the outbreak of war, repre-
sented more than one third the total
strength of the Army. Moreover, naval
facilities in Manila Bay were entirely
inadequate to support the fleet. The
station at Cavite along the south shore
of the bay had been largely neglected by
the Navy and the facilities at Olongapo
in Subic Bay dated from the early years
of the century. Neither was capable of
providing more than minor repairs.
Only at Pearl Harbor, 5,000 miles to the
east, was there a base even partially capa-
ble of servicing the major surface units
of the Battle Fleet.

The advantages of distance and loca-
tion, which gave the Philippines their
strategic importance, were all on the
side of the Japanese. Japan's southern-
most naval bases were less than 1,500
miles from the Philippines, and Formosa
was only half that distance away. An
expeditionary force from Japan could
reach Manila in three days; one mounted
from Formosa on the Ryukyus could
make the journey in a much shorter time.
An American force, even assuming it
reached the Philippines safely in record
time, would require several weeks for the

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

journey. By that time, the Japanese flag
might be waving over Manila and the
U.S. Fleet with its bunkers depleted
would be "forced to fight under the most
disadvantageous conditions or to beat an
ignominious retreat.

'25

RED and RED ORANGE

The Orange plan was based on a situ-
ation that never came to pass, that is, a
war between the United States and Japan
alone. Neither side, the planners as-
sumed, would have allies or attack the
territory of a third power. The Orange
war, as envisaged by the planners, was a
war that was to be fought entirely in the
Pacific, with the decisive action to take
place in the waters off the Asiatic coast.

These assumptions by the military
strategists of the Army and Navy were
entirely justified by the existing inter-
national situation and reflected a reason-
able estimate of the most probable threat
to American interests, an estimate that
was shared by most responsible officials
during these years. But the planners did
not, indeed could not, ignore other possi-
bilities, no matter how remote. Thus,
during the same years in which they
labored on Orange, the Joint Board
Planners considered a variety of other
contingencies that might require the use
of American military forces. The most
serious if not the most likely of these
was a war with Great Britain alone
(Red) arising from commercial rivalry
between the two nations, or with Great
Britain and Japan (Red-Orange) . The
latter contingency was conceded by all

"Hector Bywater, Sea Power in the Pacific: A
Study of the American-Japanese Naval Problem
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1921), pp.
256-57-

to present the gravest threat to Ameri-
can security, one that would require a
full-scale mobilization and the greatest
military effort.

In their study of these two contingen-
cies the military planners came to grips
with strategic problems quite different
from those presented by Orange. A war
with Japan would be primarily a naval
war fought in the Pacific. So far as any-
one could foresee, there would be no
requirement for large ground armies.
There was a possibility, of course, that
Japan would attack the Panama Canal,
Hawaii, and even the west coast, but no
real danger that Japan could seize and
occupy any of these places. But in the
unlikely event of a conflict between
Great Britain and the United States,
there was a real possibility of invasion of
the United States as well as attacks
against the Canal and American interests
in the Caribbean area. In such a war,
the major threat clearly would lie in the
Atlantic. Plans developed to meet this
remote danger, in contrast to Orange,
called for the immediate deployment of
the bulk of the U.S. Fleet to the Atlantic
and large-scale ground operations, defen-
sive in nature, to deprive the enemy of
bases in the Western Hemisphere. As in
Orange, it was assumed that neither side
would have allies among the great powers
of Europe and Asia, and no plans were
made for an invasion of the enemy's
homeland by an American expeditionary
force. This was to be a limited war in
which the United States would adopt a
strategic defensive with the object of
frustrating the enemy's assumed objec-
tive in opening hostilities.

The problems presented by a Red-
Orange coalition, though highly theo-
retical, were more complicated. Here

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

the American strategists had to face all
the possibilities of an Orange and a Red
war — seizure of American possessions in
the western Pacific, violation of the Mon-
roe Doctrine, attacks on the Panama
Canal, Hawaii, and other places, and,
finally, the invasion of the United States
itself. Basically, the problem was to
prepare for a war in both oceans against
the two great naval powers, Great Britain
and Japan.

As the planners viewed this problem,
the strategic choices open to the United
States were limited. Certainly the United
States did not have the naval strength
to conduct offensive operations simul-
taneously in both the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans; it must adopt a strategic de-
fensive on both fronts or else assume the
strategic offensive in one theater while
standing on the defensive in the other.
The recommended solution to this prob-
lem — and it was only a recommended
solution, for no joint war plan was ever
adopted — was "to concentrate on obtain-
ing a favorable decision" in the Atlantic
and to stand on the defensive in the Paci-
fic with minimum forces. This solution
was based on the assumption that since
the Atlantic enemy was the stronger
and since the vital areas of the United
States were located in the northeast, the
main effort of the hostile coalition would
be made there. For this reason, the ini-
tial effort of the United States, the plan-
ners argued, should be in the Atlantic.

A strategic offensive-defensive in a two-
front war, American strategists recog-
nized, entailed serious disadvantages. It
gave the hostile coalition freedom of
action to attack at points of its own
choosing, compelled the United States
to be prepared to meet attacks practi-
cally everywhere, exposed all U.S. over-

seas possessions to capture, and imposed
on the American people a restraint
inconsistent with their traditions and
spirit. Also, it involved serious and hu-
miliating defeats in the Pacific during
the first phase of the war and the almost
certain loss of outlying possessions in
that region.

But the strategic offensive-defensive
had definite advantages. It enabled the
United States to conduct operations in
close proximity to its home bases and
to force the enemy to fight at great dis-
tance from his own home bases at the
end of a long line of communications.
Moreover, the forces raised in the process
of producing a favorable decision in the
Atlantic would give the United States
such a superiority that Japan might well
negotiate rather than fight the United
States alone. "It is not unreasonable to
hope," the planners observed, "that the
situation at the end of the struggle with
Red may be such as to induce Orange
to yield rather than face a war carried to
the Western Pacific." 2e

The strategic concept adopted deter-
mined the missions, theaters of opera-
tion, and major tasks of U.S. forces. The
Navy's main task, in the event of a simul-
taneous attack in both oceans would be
to gain control of the North Atlantic and
to cut the enemy's line of communica-
tions to possible bases in the New World,
in Canada and the Caribbean; the
Army's task would be to capture these
bases, thus denying Britain the oppor-
tunity to launch attacks against the
United States. The principal theater of

28 Proposed Joint Estimate and Plan — Rf.d-Orance,
prepared in WPD (Army) and approved by CofS, 3
June iggo, as basis for joint plan, G-g Obsolete Plans
Reg Doc 245-C. Additional material on Red-Orancf.
may be found in the same file, 245— A through F and
in WPD 3202. No joint plan was ever approved.

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

operations in a Red-Orange war, assum-
ing Canada would side with Britain,
would be, for the Navy, the Western
North Atlantic, the Caribbean and West
Indian waters; for the Army, those areas
that could be used by Red or Orange to
launch an invasion. Operations in the
main theater would eventually bring
about the defeat of enemy forces in North
America, the economic exhaustion but
not the total defeat of Great Britain, and
finally a negotiated peace with Japan on
terms favorable to the United States.

This plan for a Red-Orange war was
admittedly unrealistic in terms of the
international situation during the 1920's
and 1930's. The military planners knew
this as well as and better than most and
often noted this fact in the draft plans
they wrote. 27 But as a strategic exercise
it was of great value, for it forced the
military planners to consider seriously
the problems presented by a war in
which the United States would have to
fight simultaneously in the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. In an era when most
war planning was focused on the Pacific
and when Japan seemed the most likely
enemy, this experience may have seemed
irrelevent. But it was to prove im-
mensely useful in the plans developed
for World War II.

Strategic Dilemma

Between 1924 and 1938 the Orange
plan was revised many times in response
to changes in the international situation,

17 In 1923, the Army draft of Red-Orange started
with the statement, "Under existing conditions a
coalition of Red and Orance is unlikely," and twelve
years later the Director of Naval Intelligence, com-
menting on another draft plan, stated that a Red-
Orance combination was "highly improbable" in the
next decade, if at all. Army Draft Red-Orange, 1923,

the mood of Congress, and military ne-
cessity. And with each change the gap
between American commitment to the
defense of the Philippines and the forces
the United States was willing to commit
to this defense became wider. By 1938
the dichotomy between national policy
and military strategy in the Far East had
made the task of the planners charged
with the defense of America's position in
that region all but impossible.

The first revision of Orange came in
November 1926 and was designed to cor-
rect ambiguities in the original plan and
to clear up the confusion in regard to
timing and forces. This was done by
designating M-day, the date on which a
general mobilization would go into effect,
as the starting point for the plan. On
that day, the actions required to imple-
ment the plan would begin, and from
that day were measured the phases speci-
fied in the plan.

The 1926 plan clearly specified Hawaii
as the point of assembly for troops and
supplies. Convoys were to be formed
there for the journey westward. But the
assumption of the earlier plan that rein-
forcements would sail directly to the
Philippines — a doubtful assumption —
was dropped in the 1926 plan. The Mar-
shall, Caroline, and Mariana Islands, it
was recognized, would have to be brought
under American control first, and bases
established in one or more of these
island groups to guard the line of
communications. 28

Reg Doc 245-F; Ltr, Dir ONI to Dir WPD, 27 Jun
35, sub: Jt Estimate of Situation, Red-Orange, copy
in WPD 3202. By 1935, planning for such a war had
virtually ended.

a Joint Army-Navy Basic War Plan Orange, 6 Oct
26; Ltr, JPC to JB, 1 1 Oct 26, sub: Revision of Plan
Orange; Mins, JB Mtg, 14 Oct 26, all in JB 325, ser.
280.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Not satisfied with these changes, the
planners proposed additional revisions
in November of 1926, with the result
that the Joint Board directed the prepara-
tion of an entirely new plan. 29 A differ-
ence of opinion became apparent almost
immediately as the planners searched for
a strategic formula that would produce
victory in a war with Japan. One group
argued for a strategic offensive in the
western Pacific as the only way to exert
sufficient pressure on Japan to win the
war, and the other for a strategic defense,
that is, the retention of the bulk of
America's naval strength east of Hawaii,
as the preferable course.

The advocates of the defensive hoped
to gain victory over Japan by economic
pressure and raids on Japanese com-
merce, but conceded that this strategy
would expose the Philippines, Guam,
and Samoa to attack and would probably
cut off trade to the Far East. The strength
of a defensive strategy, it was argued, lay
in the fact that it would make the west
coast and Hawaii "impregnable against
attack," would cause little interference
in the economy of the United States, "and
would still permit our government to
employ the political and industrial power
and the great wealth of the country in an
attempt to cut off Japanese world mar-
kets to both export and import." 30
Faced with this choice of strategies, the
Joint Board elected the former and on 26
January 1938 directed the planners to
prepare a plan based on the concept of a
strategic offensive. 31

M Ltr, JPC to JB, 26 Nov 26, sub: Revision of
Orange, JB 325, ser. 280.

a "Ltr, JPC to JB, 9 Jan 28, sub: Joint Estimate of
Situation Blue-ORANCE, and Joint Army-Navy War
Plan Orange, JB 325, ser. 280.

"Memo, JB for JPC, 26 Jan 28, sub: Joint Army-
Navy Basic War Plan Orange, JB 325, ser. 280.

Within three months, the new plan was
completed. Though it retained the orig-
inal concept of a naval advance across the
Pacific, it allowed more time to assemble
reinforcements and paid more attention
to securing the line of communications.
Forces in the Philippines were assigned
the primary mission of holding the en-
trance to Manila Bay (Bataan and Cor-
regidor) , and the secondary mission of
holding the bay area "as long as consistent
with the successful accomplishment of
the primary mission." 32

That there was even then little expec-
tation that the Philippines could be held
is evident in the Army's estimate of the
enemy's capacities as compared to its own.
Japan, it noted, could raise and transport
to the Philippines a force of 300,000 men
in 30 days. Within 7 days of an attack,
it could have 50,000 to 60,000 men off
Luzon, within 15 another 100,000. The
Americans would have to meet this at-
tack with the forces then present in the
Philippines: 1 1,000 troops of which 7,000
were Filipinos, a native constabulary
numbering about 6,000 men, and an air
component consisting of nine bombers
and eleven pursuit planes. So great a
discrepancy made any hope for a success-
ful defense mere illusion. The best that
could be hoped for under such circum-
stances was a delaying action that might
buy enough time for the fleet to arrive
with reinforcements.

The move to grant the Philippines
their independence, which was finding
increasing support among the American
people and in Congress in the early

52 Joint Basic War Plan Orange, 24 Apr 28, JB 325,
ser. 280. Other papers relating to the plan are in the
same file. The plan was approved by the Secretary of
the Navy on 19 June 1928, and by the Secretary of
War on 10 July.

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

lggo's, complicated enormously the prob-
lems of Pacific strategy and precipitated
a number of reviews and studies by the
planners of the effect of such a step. The
conclusion of these studies was that the
islands represented a powerful military
asset to the United States and that their
retention was necessary to support Amer-
ican policy in the Far East. The with-
drawal of the United States from these
islands, asserted the joint planners, would
upset the balance of power in the Far
East, give Japan a free hand in the west-
ern Pacific, and force the abandonment of
the open-door policy. Though inade-
quately defended and far removed from
the nearest American base in Hawaii, the
Philippines were, in the opinion of the
Washington planners, of great strategic
importance, indispensable in a war
against Japan. "We should relinquish
our bases," they concluded, "only when
we are prepared to relinquish our posi-
tion as a nation of major influence in
the affairs of Asia and the Western
Pacific." 33

From the Philippines came a strong
dissenting voice. To the officers stationed
in the islands, the plan to hold out against
a powerful Japanese attack until rein-
forcements arrived seemed nothing less
than self-delusion. "To carry out the
present Orange plan," wrote the com-
mander of the Corregidor defenses, "with
its provisions for the early dispatch of
our fleet to Philippine waters, would be
literally an act of madness." 34 Corregi-
dor, he admitted, could probably hold
out for about a year and thus deny Japan

"Ltr, JPC to JB, sub: Independence of Phil Is,
28 Feb 34, JB 305, ser. 525. See also JB 305, ser. 4gg
for earlier views.

"Memo, Brig Gen Stanley D. Embick for CG Phil
Dept, 19 Apr 33, sub: Mil Policy of U.S. in Phil Is,
and 1st Ind, Hq Phil Dept, 25 Apr 33, WPD 3251-15.

the use of Manila Bay. But the enemy
could reach Manila from the land side
and deny the U.S. Fleet a sheltered har-
bor in which to overhaul and repair
major fleet units. It would be necessary,
therefore, for the fleet to seize and de-
velop bases as it moved across the Pacific,
and this process, he estimated, would take
two or three years. Certainly the small
garrison in the Philippines could not
resist that long. Unless the American
people were willing to spend large sums
for the defense of the islands — and there
was in 1933 not the slightest hope that
they would — the Corregidor commander
and his superior, the commander of the
Philippine Department, both advised
that the United States arrange for the
neutralization of the Philippines, with-
draw its forces from the Far East, and
adopt the line Alaska-Oahu-Panama as
the "strategic peacetime frontier in the
Pacific."

The planners in Washington, what-
ever their personal convictions may have
been, did not accept this view. Indeed,
they could not, for national policy dic-
tated that the Philippines must be de-
fended, no matter how hopeless the
assignment seemed to those responsible
for its defense. The withdrawal of
United States forces from the Philippines
and from China was a political ques-
tion and the decision rested with the
President and Congress.

From the military point of view, the
Army planners in Washington found the
assumptions of the Philippine command-
ers unwarranted. The field commanders,
they maintained, had stressed the concept
of an offensive in the western Pacific,
but the plan did not require the immedi-
ate advance of the fleet westward "unless
the situation existing . . . justifies such

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

action." 35 Instead, the fleet would ad-
vance step by step through the mandates,
taking such islands as it needed and con-
structing advance bases before moving
on. It was just this course, the Army
planners pointed out, that the Navy now
favored.

To the Washington experts the idea
that the Philippines could be neutralized
by agreement with other powers was
completely unrealistic. They thought it
"highly improbable of attainment," at
least so long as the United States re-
tained military and naval .bases in the
islands. When the Philippines became
fully independent, it might be possible
to follow this course, provided that the
United States withdrew all of its forces.

The Army planners in Washington
dismissed also the fear that Japan would
attack the United States in the near fu-
ture. In their view, Japan was too
dependent upon trade with the United
States to risk a war that would place all
her gains on the Asiatic mainland in
jeopardy. "Only by adoption on the part
of the United States of a policy of armed
intervention," they concluded, "would
Orange be justified in bringing on a
war." 36

In March 1934, when the Tydings-
McDuffie act granting the Philippines
their independence by 1946 was passed,
the Army and Navy commanders in the
Philippines reopened the question of
American strategy in the Far East. In a
joint letter to their respective chiefs the
two commanders asserted that, in view
of the reductions in military and naval
strength in the Philippines, they could

not carry out their missions under the
Orange plan. The "spectacular rise" of
Japan as a military power, together with
the improvement of military aviation,
and increases in the speed and armament
of surface vessels, nullified, in their
judgment, the value of Manila Bay as a
base. The time had come, it seemed to
them, to make a decision on American
policy. If the United States intended to
defend the islands — and their defense
was basic to the Orange plan — even after
they were granted independence, then
naval and land forces would have to be
increased, those treaties prohibiting its
fortification abrogated, and a base ade-
quate for maintaining the fleet con-
structed. If the United States intended
to withdraw and relinquish its control
over the Philippines and responsibility
for their defense, then, said the two com-
manders, only such American forces as
would be needed to maintain order dur-
ing the transition period should be kept
in the islands. 37

The decision of the Joint Board settled
none of the questions raised by the Asi-
atic Fleet and Philippine Department
commanders. National policy was not
within its province and it could only as-
sert that the Philippines would be de-
fended and that reinforcements would
be forthcoming, as planned in Orange,
in the event of war. The board was for-
tified in this view by the Army planners
who felt that the existing force in the
Philippines was large enough to give
"reasonable assurance" that Manila Bay
could be held, and by the belief of the
naval planners that reinforcements could

"Memo, Chief, WPD for CofS, la Tun 33, sub: Mil
Policy of U.S. in Phil Is, WPD 3251-15.
m lbid.

"Ltr, CinC Asiatic Fleet and CG Phil Dept to CNO
and CofS, 1 Mar 34, sub: Inadequacy of Present Mil
and Naval Forces in Phil Area . . . , JB 325, ser. 533.

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

be convoyed across the Pacific in time to
avert disaster. 38

Hardly had this decision been made
when the Orange plan came under scru-
tiny again. This time it was General
Douglas MacArthur, then Chief of Staff,
who called for its revision to bring it
into conformity with the new mobiliza-
tion plan and the 4-army organization
of the field forces. These changes did
not affect the basic concept of the plan,
but during the discussions the Navy
planners proposed a new line of action,
foreshadowed in 1928, calling for an ad-
vance in progressive stages across the
Pacific through the mandated islands,
seizing in turn the Marshalls and Caro-
lines and developing there the bases
needed to secure the line of communica-
tions to the western Pacific. The Ma-
rine and Army troops to carry out these
operations were to sail from the west
coast in echelons, the first leaving for the
Marshalls twelve days after M-day. In-
corporated into the 1935 revision of the
Orange plan, this concept underscored
the importance of holding Manila Bay
to provide a base for the fleet when it
finally fought its way through with
reinforcements. 39

Despite the careful plans to hold the
Philippines in case of a Japanese attack,
the view that the islands could not be
held and that it would take several years
to establish naval superiority in the
western Pacific spread rapidly among the

38 Memo, Brig Gen C. R. Kilbourne for Army Mem-
bers, JPC, 1 May 34, sub: Mil Policy in Phil Is, WPD
3251-18; Ltr, JB to Secy War, 20 Jun 34, sub: Inade-
quacy of Present Mil and Naval Forces . . . , JB 325,
ser. 533.

^Ltrs, MacArthur to JB, 18 Jun 35; JPC to JB, S3
Apr 35; JB to Secy War, 8 May 35, all titled Revision
of Joint Army-Navy Basic War Plan Orange and
filed in JB 325, ser. 546. The Secretaries of War and
Navy approved the revised plan on 9 May 1935.

Army planners. Japan had revealed its
expansionist aims in Manchuria and in
China, had placed a veil of secrecy over
the mandated islands, withdrawn from
the League of Nations and from the
naval limitations agreements of ig22 and
1930, and was rapidly building up its
military strength and naval forces. The
situation in Europe was threatening, too,
with Hitler and Mussolini beginning to
test their new found strength. Under
the circumstances, the Philippine Islands
might well prove a liability, draining off
the forces needed to defend Hawaii, the
Panama Canal, and the continental
United States.

In recognition of the growing threat
in Europe and the Far East, the Secre-
taries of the War and Navy Departments
in the fall of 1935 called upon the Joint
Board to re-examine America's military
position in the Far East. At the same
time, they asked Secretary of State Cor-
del Hull to designate a State Department
representative to meet with the board.
How seriously the Secretaries regarded
the situation may be judged by their
note to Hull. "The cumulative efforts
of successive developments during the
past two decades have so weakened our
military position vis-a-vis Japan," they
wrote, "that our position in the Far East
is one that may result not only in our
being forced into war but into a war that
would have to be fought under condi-
tions that might preclude its successful
prosecution." 40

The Secretaries' action set off another
round of discussions over strategy that

M Ltr, Actg Secy War and Secy Navy to Secy State,
26 Nov 35, JB 305, ser. 573. Stanley K. Hornbeck,
Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs, was ap-
pointed the State Department representative. Ltr,
Hull to Woodring, 37 Nov 35, same file.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

General MacArthur

ended in one more revision of Orange.
The case for the Army planners was sum-
marized by Brig. Gen. Stanley D. Em-
bick, Chief of the War Plans Division
and long associated with the Philippines
and Pacific strategy. Reliance on a base
that was inadequately defended, he ob-
served, was to invite disaster. American
strategy in the Pacific, he insisted, should
concentrate on holding the strategic tri-
angle, Alaska-Hawaii-Panama. Such a
course would place the United States in
an invulnerable position and permit its
military and naval forces to conduct
operations "in such a manner that will
promise success instead of national
disaster." 41

The naval planners were of a different
opinion. All their plans were based on

"App. A to Memo initialed S.D.E., 2 Dec 35, sub:
Mil Aspects of . . . Retention of U.S. of . . . Phil Is, JB
305, ser. 573.

the use of the fleet in offensive operations
west of Hawaii, and the acceptance of
the strategic triangle would leave the
Navy with little to do other than patrol
the critical area and fend off an enemy
attack.

These differences were fundamental
and the planners, unable to reach agree-
ment, submitted separate reports. The
Army members recommended that, when
the Philippines became independent, the
United States should withdraw entirely
from the islands and from China; the
Navy members, that no decision on
America's future military policy in the
Far East should be made at this time but
should await a complete re-examination
of the Orange plan.

This was hardly an acceptable basis
for decision by the Joint Board, and
again they referred the problem to their
planners. This time the planners agreed
by avoiding the issue, and in May 1936
submitted a revision of Orange which
restricted the mission of the Philippine
garrison to holding the entrance to Ma-
nila Bay, that is, Corregidor and its
neighboring islands. Up to that time it
had been required to hold the Manila
Bay area as long as possible. The naval
concept of a progressive movement
through the mandates remained
unchanged.

Though the Army planners had failed
to win their point, their efforts did result
in a review of the Hawaiian defenses and
to an emphasis on their importance in
the revised Orange plan. The mission
of the Hawaiian garrison was stated sim-
ply: to hold Oahu "as a main outlying
naval base," and provision was made for
a defense reserve for seventy days, the
maximum time required for the fleet to
reach Hawaiian waters. Prophetically,

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

the plan recognized the danger of a sur-
prise raid and pointed out that a success-
ful defense would depend "almost wholly
upon our not being totally surprised by
the enemy," and would "require an ef-
ficient intelligence service, not only in
the Hawaiian Islands but elsewhere." 42

It was abundantly clear by now that
the Philippine garrison would not be
able to hold out until such time — vari-
ously estimated at from two to three
years — as the fleet could arrive with rein-
forcements. This fact was never explicitly
stated but, significantly, the Army's 1936
Orange plan, unlike earlier plans, made
no provision for reinforcements. The
defense would have to be conducted by
the peacetime garrison, a force of about
10,000 men, plus the Philippine Army
then being organized by General Mac-
Arthur. 43

The debate over Pacific and Far East
strategy continued through 1936, when
Japan joined Germany and Italy in the
Anti-Comintern Pact, and into 1937. In
the fall of that year, after Japan embarked
on its war of aggression in China, the
Joint Board again ordered a re-examina-
tion of existing plans, which it considered
"unsound in general" and "wholly inap-
plicable" to the international situation.
What it wanted from its planning com-
mittee was a new Orange plan that

"Memo, Kruegcr for CofS, etc, 14 Feb 36, sub: Mil
and Naval Position in Far East, with Incls dated 6
Feb and 5 Mar 36, JB 305, ser. 573; Ltr, JB to Secy
War, ig May 36, sub: Revision of Joint Army and
Navy Basic War Plan Orange, JB 325, ser. 570; Ltrs,
JPC to JB 13 May 26, sub: US Forces, Hawaiian Is,
and JB to Secy War, 19 May 36, same sub, JB 325, ser.
580; Ltr, JB to Secy War, g Dec 36, sub: Changes in
Orange, JB 3215, ser. 594.

■"Army Strategical Plan Orange, 1936 Revision, JB
325, sers. 546 and 325. For MacArthur's plans to
build a Philippine Army, see Louis Morton, The
Fall of the Philippines, UNITED STAT ES ARMY
IN WORLD WAR II (Washington, 1953),! pp. 8-13,

would provide for "a position of readi-
ness" on the line Alaska-Hawaii-Panama
— the so-called "strategic triangle." In
addition, the planners were to make
"exploratory studies and estimates" of
the various courses of action to be fol-
lowed after the position of readiness had
been assumed. 44

In less than two weeks the Joint Plan-
ning Committee reported its inability to
reach an agreement. The Army mem-
bers, reading their instructions literally,
wanted to restrict themselves to the area
specified by the board and draw up a
plan, defensive in nature, which would
provide for the security of the conti-
nental United States and the Pacific
Ocean as far as Hawaii. A war plan,
they reasoned, must take into account
political and economic factors and it
was impossible at this time to determine
whether the United States would be
willing to fight an unlimited war against
Japan. With the European Axis clearly
in mind they pointed out that political
considerations might require limited
action and purely defensive operations in
the Pacific. Moreover, the forces avail-
able at the outbreak of war would hardly
be adequate for assuming the defense of
vital areas in the Western Hemisphere.
To uncover these positions for an offen-
sive in the far Pacific, the Army planners
declared, would be foolhardy indeed. 45

The Navy members of the Joint Plan-
ning Committee took the position that
American strategy could not be limited
to a purely defensive position of readi-
ness but should aim at the defeat of the

"Memos, JB for JPC, 10 Nov 37, sub: Joint Basic
War Plan Orange, JB 325, ser. 617; Embick to WPD,
3 Nov 37, same sub. AGO 225.

48 Draft Memo, Krueger, 22 Nov 37, sub: Some
Thoughts on Joint War Plans, AGO 225.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

enemy. If it failed to do that, it was not,
in the view of the naval planners, a real-
istic guide for the services in time of
war. 46

Once war began, the Navy members
argued, production would be quickly
increased to provide the means required
for both the security of the continental
United States and for offensive opera-
tions in the Pacific. While these forces
were being assembled, the Navy was
prepared to take the offensive beyond
Hawaii into Japanese territory. Should
the European Axis give aid to the enemy,
the planners assumed that the United
States would have allies to provide the
assistance needed by the U.S. Fleet to
maintain naval superiority over Japan
and to permit the projection of Ameri-
can naval power into the Western Pacific.
"The character, amount, and location of
allied assistance," they added, "cannot
be predicted." 47

The separate reports submitted by the
Army and Navy members of the Joint
Planning Committee put the choice be-
tween the opposing strategies squarely
up to the Joint Board. The board
avoided this choice by issuing a new
directive to the planners on 7 December
1937. Suggested by the Chief of Naval
Operations, Admiral William D. Leahy,
this directive attempted to compromise
the differing interpretations of the Army
and Navy planners, but gave the edge to
the latter. The new plan, the board now
specified, should have as its basic objec-
tive the defeat of Japan and should pro-
vide for "an initial temporary position

40 Ltrs, Army and Navy Members JPC to JB, 29 and
30 Nov 37, sub: Joint Basic War Plan Orance, JB
325, ser. 617. The Army plan is in Appendix A, the
Navy's in Appendix B.

"Ibid.

General Embick, Chief, Army War
Plans Division, 1935.

in readiness" for the Pacific coast and the
strategic triangle. This last, the board
further directed, was to be the Army's
job; the Navy's task would consist of
"offensive operations against Orange
armed forces and the interruption of
Orange vital sea communications,"
Finally, the planners were to recommend
the forces and materiel which would be
required by each of the services to accom-
plish its mission in the new plan.* 8

Even under these revised instructions,
the planners were unable to agree on the
best way to protect American interests
in the Pacific and Far East in the event
of war with Japan. The Army planners,
thinking possibly of the situation in
Europe, wished to maintain a defense
position east of the 180th meridian — the

"Directive, JB to JPC, 7 Dec 37, sub: Joint Basic
War Plan Orange, JB 325, ser. 618.

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

outermost limits of the Hawaiian chain.
Offensive operations to the west of that
line, they believed, should be under-
taken only when necessary and they only
with the specific authorization of the
President. Naval operations alone, they
asserted, could not ensure the defeat of
Japan and ultimately the maximum
efforts of the two services would be
required.

Throughout their version of the plan,
the Army planners emphasized the defen-
sive mission of the Army to defend the
United States and its possessions. Though
they did not exclude the Philippines,
neither did they provide for augmenting
the forces there as they did for American
territory east of the 180th meridian. The
defense of the Islands would have to be
conducted by the forces already assigned
plus whatever additional troops were
available locally. 49

The naval planners, still offensive-
minded so far as the Pacific was con-
cerned, emphasized in their version of
the plan operations designed to bring
about the defeat of Japan. Thus, they
made the destruction of Orange forces
the primary mission of joint and separate
Army and Navy forces. Nor did they
place any limits on operations in the
western Pacific, merely repeating the
time-honored formula that victory would
be won by establishing "at the earliest
practicable date, U.S. naval power in the
western Pacific in strength superior to
that of Orange and to operate offen-
sively in that area." 50 This preference
for the offensive was clearly reflected in
his testimony to the Senate Naval Affairs
Committee the following February when

Admiral Leahy asserted that "the only
way that war, once begun, can be brought
to a successful conclusion is by making
the enemy want to stop fighting. . . .
Prompt and effective injury to an enemy
at a distance from our shores is the only
correct strategy to be employed." 51

Faced with another split report, the
Joint Board turned over the task of
working out a compromise to General
Embick and Rear Adm. James O.
Richardson. These two, after a month
of discussion, finally submitted on 18
February 1938 a new Orange plan. This
plan embodied the essential points of
each of the services with the result that
its provisions were sometimes less than
clear. In return for the Army's removal
of the proviso that operations west of
the Hawaiian Islands would require
Presidential authorization, the Navy
took out its references to an offensive
war, the destruction of the Japanese
forces, and the early movement of the
fleet into the western Pacific. The result
was a broad statement of strategy calling
for "military and economic pressure,"
increasing in severity until "the national
objective," the defeat of Japan, was
attained. Initial operations under this
concept were to be primarily naval but
would be coupled with measures required
to ensure the security of the continental
United States, Alaska, Oahu, and
Panama. 52

Though each of the services retreated
from its original position, each won rec-
ognition of principles it held important.

*"Ltr, JPC to JB, 27 Dec 37, sub: Joint War Plan
Orange, JB 325, ser. 618.
°°Ibid.

"Joint Committee on the Investigation of the
Pearl Harbor Attack, 7gth Cong., ist sess., Hearings,
pt. I, p. 294.

"Joint Basic War Plan Orange, 21 Feb 38, JB 325,
ser. 618. The plan was approved by the Secretary of
the Navy on 26 February and by the Secretary of War
two days later.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The Navy retained its concept of a pro-
gressive advance across the Pacific, but
avoided commitment on the time re-
quired for such a move — an essential
point in any plan for the defense of the
Philippines. The Army, on its side,
gained recognition of the primary impor-
tance of the strategic triangle formed by
Alaska, Oahu, and Panama to the defense
of the United States. The earlier provi-
sion for the defense of Manila Bay was
retained, but the omission of any refer-
ence to the reinforcement of the Philip-
pine garrison or to the length of time
it would take the fleet to advance across
the Pacific was a tacit admission that the
planners did not believe the position
could be held.

A war with Japan, the Orange plan
of 1938 assumed, would be preceded by
a period of strained relations, during
which the United States would have time
to prepare for mobilization. No formal
declaration of war was expected; when
war came the planners expected it to
come with a sudden surprise attack — an
assumption that had been made in every
Orange plan since the Russo-Japanese
war. They thought, too, that American
forces at the start of the war would be
strong enough to permit naval opera-
tions west of Pearl Harbor, and that no
assistance Japan could receive — presum-
ably from Germany and Italy — would
materially affect the balance of naval
power in the Pacific.

On the outbreak of a war, the United
States would first assume a position of
readiness to meet all emergencies that
might arise, a point the Army planners
had insisted upon. During this initial
period, the Army and Navy would place
priority on such measures as were re-
quired to defend the west coast, the

strategic triangle, the coastal defenses of
the United States, and oversea posses-
sions. At the same time, the Navy would
make preparations, in co-operation with
the Army, to open the offensive as soon
as possible.

The plan outlined also the specific
measures that would have to be taken
to support offensive operations. These
included the following:

1. Mobilization of Army forces, ini-
tially 750,000 men, excluding strategic
reserves ready if needed to support the
Navy.

2. Mobilization of naval vessels and
an increase in personnel strength to
320,000 (including marines) .

3. An increase in the strength of the
Marine Corps to 35,000 men.

4. Additional increases in all services
at a later date if necessary.

5. Plans for the movement of troops
to vital areas for their defense and to
ports for overseas movement.

Having assumed a position of readiness
and completed initial preparations, the
military and naval forces of the United
States would then be free to meet any
unexpected situation that might develop,
including, presumably, an attack in the
Atlantic. If none did, the Navy could
then proceed to take the offensive against
Japan with operations directed initially
against the mandated islands and extend-
ing progressively westward across the
Pacific. These operations combined with
economic pressure (blockade) would, it
was believed, result in the defeat of
Japan and a settlement that would assure
the peace and safeguard American
interests in the Far East. 53

The prospective loss of the Philippine

'Ibid.

THE BEGINNINGS OF PACIFIC STRATEGY

base in 1946 and the abrogation by
Japan of the Washington Treaty limita-
tions on fortifications led after 1936 to
a renewed interest in Guam. The whole
problem of naval bases came under Con-
gressional scrutiny when a board headed
by Rear Adm. Arthur J. Hepburn sub-
mitted its report on naval bases in
December 1938. The findings of the
board, which had been appointed by
Congress, reflected clearly the naval
strategy of the day. Guam, it declared,
should be developed into a fully equip-
ped fleet base with air and submarine
facilities. Such a project, it reminded
the Congress, had been prepared earlier,
but had been put aside because of the
Washington Treaty. That treaty had
now expired and there was no longer any
restriction on the military fortification of
Guam. 54

The advantages of establishing a strong
base at Guam were enormous, in the
view of the board. For one thing, it
would greatly simplify the task of defend-
ing the Philippine Islands. In the opin-
ion of "the most authoritative sources/'
such a base would make the islands
practically immune from attack, would
create "the most favorable conditions
. . . for the prosecution of naval opera-
tions in the western Pacific," and would
contribute greatly to the defense of
Hawaii and the continental United
States. 55 By limiting hostile naval opera-
tions to the south, a fortified base at
Guam would also serve to protect the
trade routes to the Netherlands Indies
and greatly simplify naval problems

"House Doc. 65, 76th Cong., ist sess., Report on
Need of Additional Naval Bases To Defend the
Coast of the United States, Its Territories, and Pos-
sessions (Hepburn Board Report), pp. 27-28.

"Ibid., p. 28.

"should the fleet ever be called upon
for operations in the Far East." 58 And
even if the United States withdrew from
the western Pacific, the base at Guam, as
Admiral Leahy pointed out, would have
great value as a deterrent to any nation
"contemplating a hostile move from the
general area towards the Hawaiian
Islands." 57 But Congress, after a heated
debate, rejected the board's recommen-
dations for fear of offending Japan, with
the result that Guam, lying exposed at
the southern end of the Marianas, was
left virtually undefended.

The failure to fortify Guam, like the
refusal to strengthen the forces in the
Philippines, reveals strikingly the dilem-
ma of America's position in the Pacific
and Far East. National policy dictated
the defense of an insular position which,
in the opinion of the military planners,
could not be defended with existing
forces. The Orange plan of 1938, with
the compromise between an offensive
and defensive strategy, was merely a
reflection of this contradiction between
American interests and commitments in
the Pacific. The nation would not aban-
don the Philippines but neither would
it grant the Army and Navy funds to
ensure their defense. Nowhere in the
country, even where feeling against Japa-
nese aggression in Asia ran highest, was
there firm support for military appro-
priations. Strong isolationist sentiment
supported a Congressional economy
which by 1938 had so reduced the effec-
tiveness of the nation's armed forces as
to make its outposts in the Pacific "a
distinct and exceedingly grave liability."
American policy had created a wide gap

K Ibid., p. 27.

CT Hearings, House Committee on Naval Affairs, 25
Jan-i7Feb 1939, p. 55.

44 STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

between objectives and means and forced danger ahead, and a disposition to pre-

on its planners a compromise strategy pare the country's defenses, but the neg-

and the virtual abandonment of Guam lect of almost two decades could not be

and the Philippines. Already there was overcome in the three years of peace

a shift in sentiment, a recognition of the that remained.

CHAPTER II

Japanese Policy and Strategy.
1931 -July 1941

It may even reasonably be said that the intensely sharp competitive
preparation for war by the nation is the real war, permanent, increasing;
and that battles are only a sort of public verification of mastery gained
during the "peace" intervals. William James

In the period between the two world
wars, Japan sought to establish control
first of east Asia and then of the south-
west Pacific. After a decade of liberal
ascendancy and acquiescence in the post-
World War I agreements, the extremists
in Japan gained power and embarked on
a program of military preparation and
territorial aggrandizement. First the
Japanese moved into Manchuria and
then into China, where they soon be-
came involved in a war that dragged on
interminably and from which they could
extract neither victory nor honor. Hav-
ing scrapped the Washington Treaty
system, they withdrew from the League
of Nations and from the naval disarma-
ment system established in 1922 and
1930. Gradually they moved toward a
closer understanding with Germany and
Italy, and, in 1940, turned south to the
rich British, French, and Dutch colonies
of southeast Asia in search of raw mate-
rials they needed to carry on the war
in China.

The United States opposed all these
moves as vigorously as circumstances per-

mitted. Since the turn of the century,
when it had annexed the Philippines,
the United States had been inextricably
drawn into the confused politics and
imperialist rivalries of the Far East.
Despite the nation's traditional prefer-
ence for remaining aloof from world
affairs, it was abundantly clear that
America could not remain indifferent to
any change in the status quo in the
Pacific or in Asia. John Hay had defined
America's position in China in 1899, and
his statement — that there must be equal
opportunity for trade, or an open door,
in China — remained the keystone of
American policy in the years that fol-
lowed. It was inevitable, therefore, that
the United States would challenge the
efforts of any power to gain a dominant
position on the mainland of Asia.

America's opposition to Japanese ex-
pansion in Asia, its insistence on the
open-door policy and the integrity of
China, led to mutual distrust and sus-
picion. No Japanese government could
accept America's solution for the deep-
ening crisis and remain in power; nor

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

would the United States accede under
any conditions to the dismemberment
of China. There was no escape from this
dilemma and by mid- 1941, despite the
utmost efforts of men of good will on
both sides of the Pacific, Japan was mov-
ing rapidly down the road that led to
Pearl Harbor.

Japanese Expansion

The impulse to expansion and domi-
nation of East Asia had its roots deep in
Japanese tradition, patriotism, and eco-
nomic necessity; its strongest support
came from the militarists and extreme
nationalists. In marked contrast to the
position of the armed forces in demo-
cratic countries, the Army in Japan had
a tradition of political leadership and
enjoyed a position high in the esteem of
the people. It was not, as in the United
States and Great Britain, the servant of
the government, controlled through re-
sponsible civil officials and by the power
of appropriation. Under the Japanese
Constitution the Emperor commanded
the Army and Navy, and the Diet had
little control over the organization of
the military forces. 1

Military control in prewar Japan was
exercised by the War and Navy Minis-
ters and the General Staffs of the Army
and Navy, not by the civil government.
The services were in a peculiarly inde-
pendent position. The War and Navy
Ministers, though members of the Cabi-
net, could go over the head of the Pre-
mier and appeal directly to the throne
in military or naval matters of great

importance. Moreover, they could, by
resigning from the Cabinet, force the
resignation of the Premier and the for-
mation of a new government, for under
the Constitution, no Cabinet could exist
without the War and Navy Ministers.
An even more significant aspect of the
relationship of the services to the govern-
ment of prewar Japan was the control of
the Army and Navy over their respective
Ministers. By custom, and after 1936 by
law, the War and Navy Ministers were
chosen from among the senior officers
(3 -star officers or higher) on the active
list. Thus, the Army selected the Minis-
ter, who, if not himself a member of the
General Staff, was almost certain to reflect
its views. Opposition of the civil authori-
ties could be quickly overcome by the
threat of withdrawing the service Minis-
ters from the Cabinet. The Chiefs of
the General Staffs had the right also to
report directly to the Emperor and had
considerable freedom of action. So great
was their prestige and influence in politi-
cal matters and so unlimited their ability
for independent action, that they could
virtually commit the government to a
course of action, and the nation to war. 2
Despite the enormous power and
prestige of the Army, the liberal and
moderate elements in Japan were not
without influence. The decade of the
ig2o's was theirs and during these years
Japan followed a moderate course. This

1 Under Articles n, 12, and 62 of the Japanese Con-
stitution, the Diet had partial control of the budget
and this gave it some leverage over the military.

J E. E. N. Causton, Militarism and Foreign Policy
in Japan (London: G. Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1936),
pp. 75-82; R. K. Reischauer, Japan, Government and
Politics (New York: Ronald Press Company, 1939).
pp. 90-93. For a general description of the Japanese
high command, see Yale Candee Maxon, Control of
Japanese Foreign Policy: A Study of Civil-Military
Rivalry, 1030—1945 (Berkeley: University of Califor-
nia Press, 1957).

JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941

course was based on the belief that the
limits of profitable armed expansion had
been reached and that the future of the
nation lay in peaceful economic expan-
sion and co-operation with the United
States and Great Britain. It was this
view that made possible the signing of
the Washington Treaties in 1921-22,
which established the status quo in the
Pacific, recognized the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of China, forbade
additional fortification of certain islands
in the Pacific, and limited capital ship
construction.

As the decade of the ig2o's came to
an end, the popular discontent arising
from the poverty and despair of world-
wide depression was channeled into na-
tional and fascist movements. American
exclusion of Japanese immigrants in
1924, although balanced by generous and
ready sympathy during the Tokyo earth-
quake, had strengthened the hand of the
discontented. Further, the acceptance
by the liberal government in 1930 of
the extension of naval limitation to
cruisers, destroyers, and submarines pro-
vided the advocates of expansion with
strong arguments for scrapping the
entire Washington Treaty system, as
well as the pretext for the assassination
of the Premier. Nationalist groups read-
ily joined forces with the supporters of
the Army and the extreme right to de-
mand a reversal of the liberal program
and a return to the policy of expansion.

Events in China gave strong support
for the aggressive policy urged by the
expansionists. Under Chiang Kai-shek
the Chinese were displaying symptoms
of a nationalism and unity which boded
ill for Japanese interests in Manchuria

and dreams of expansion in Asia. By
1931 the Chinese had already regained
partial economic control of Manchuria
and were seeking to remove foreign
influence from China. The liberal gov-
ernment of Japan had made clear its
intention of maintaining Japanese rights
in Manchuria, but by peaceful means.
The Army, doubtful of the efficacy of
such means and acutely aware of the
strategic importance of Manchuria, de-
cided on bolder measures and in Septem-
ber 1931 seized control of key cities in
Manchuria by force.

The seizure of Manchuria was the
work of the Army extremists acting on
their own authority and in defiance of
government policy. Presented with a
jait accompli and fearing open revolt,
the government gave its reluctant con-
sent to the Army's action and the Foreign
Office did its best to justify to the rest
of the world this violation of the Wash-
ington Treaties, the Kellogg Peace Pact,
and the Covenant of the League of Na-
tions. But the Japanese troops in Man-
churia, the Kwantung Army, did not
stop there. Despite opposition in the
Cabinet and even from the throne, the
Kwantung Army extended its control
over the rest of Manchuria, established
a puppet regime there, and began to
move into the northern provinces of
China. Nor did opposition from the
United States, whose Secretary of State,
Henry L. Stimson, informed Japan that
his country could not recognize as legal
this infringement on existing treaties or
the violation of the open door policy in
China, halt the Japanese Army. In 1933,
after the League of Nations adopted the
strongly critical report of the Lytton

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Commission, Japan withdrew from the
League. 3

The Manchurian incident was but the
first step in the Army's rise to power.
Having defied the government and set
the nation on a course opposed by the
Cabinet, the Army gained virtual control
the following year, 1932, as a result of
the celebrated incident of 15 May when
a group of young Army and Navy officers
terrorized Tokyo for several hours and
assassinated Premier Inukai.

With the death of the Premier, party
rule in Japan virtually ceased. The Em-
peror's advisers, recognizing that either
outright opposition to or complete ac-
ceptance of the Army's program would
be equally disastrous, urged a middle
course. The result was a series of com-
promise Cabinets in which the moderate
and liberal elements opposed the dan-
gerous policies of the militarists as far
as prudence would allow and yielded to
them when necessary. 4

The balance thus achieved lasted only
five years, years in which Japan re-
nounced its adherence to the naval dis-
armament agreements of ig22 and 1930
and made abundantly clear its opposi-
tion to the Nine-Power Treaty of 1922
guaranteeing the sovereignty and terri-
torial integrity of China. In 1935 a lib-

"The Japan Year Book, 1934 (Tokyo: Foreign Af-
fairs Association of Japan, 1934); Henry L. Stimson,
The Far Eastern Crisis (New York: Harper 8c Broth-
ers, 1936); International Military Tribunal for the
Far East (IMTFE), Defense and Prosecution Cases of
Japanese Aggression in Manchuria, Japanese War
Crimes Files, National Archives; Political Strategy
Prior to Outbreak of War (in 5 parts), pt. I, Japanese
Studies in World War II, 144, pp. 1-9, Mil Hist Sec,
Far East Command (FEC). This series was prepared
by former Japanese Army and Navy Officers under
the supervision of G-2, FEC. Both the original Japa-
nese version and translations are on file in OCMH.

'Reischauer, Japan, Government and Politics, pp.
154—57; Clyde, The Far East, pp. 600-604, 664; Judg-

eral movement opposed to fascism and
militarism and calling for a return to
full parliamentary government began to
take form. Liberals in the Diet attacked
sharply the government's policy and criti-
cized the War Ministry so strongly that
it felt constrained to discipline some of
the extremists in the Army. The ex-
tremists retaliated in February 1936,
after the victory of the liberals in the
elections of that month, with a full-scale
armed revolt against the government.
The mutineers, numbering 1,500 sol-
diers led by twenty-two junior officers of
the 1st and Guard Divisions (supported,
there is reason to believe, by other high-
ranking officers) , attacked members of
the Cabinet, high court officials, and
even senior Army officers thought to
be lukewarm to the cause. The Finance
Minister and one of the most important
members of the high command were
killed, while the Premier himself
narrowly escaped assassination.

The government and the high com-
mand reacted with vigor. Army leaders,
fearing that the forces they had raised
might destroy them as well as their ene-
mies, made serious efforts to restore dis-
cipline. The revolt was soon suppressed
and the leading^ offenders court-mar-
tialed and punished, though lightly.
Then followed an effective purge of the

ment, International Military Tribunal for the Far
East, November 1948 (hereafter cited as IMTFE,
Judgment), pt. B, pp. 98-103, copy in OCMH. Unless
otherwise noted, the account which follows is based
on these sources, passim, and on Herbert Feis, The
Road to Pearl Harbor, The Coming of the War Be-
tween the United States and Japan (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1950); Joseph W. Ballan-
tine, "Mukden to Pearl Harbor: The Foreign Policies
of Japan," Foreign Affairs, XXVII, No. 4 (July,
1949), 651-64; and Maxon, Control of Japanese
Foreign Policy, passim.

JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941

New Army-Controlled Japanese Cabinet, March 1936. At left, War Minister
Terauchi in uniform, with Navy Minister Nagano at his left.

Army, directed by the War Minister and
the General Staff and designed to pre-
vent unauthorized or untimely revolts
which the high command itself did not
favor. 5

The 26 February incident marked one
more step in the Army's rise to power.
Ten days after the mutiny, the Premier
resigned and a new government more
favorably disposed to the Army's pro-
gram took office. From this time on,
Japanese policy must be read in terms
of military strategy.

"IMTFE, Judgment, pt. B, pp. 113—19; Hugh Byas,
Government by Assassination (New York: Alfred A,
Knopf, 1942); Latourette, The History of Japan, p.
219; The Japan Year Book, 1939, pp. 134—36,

To determine just who made Army
policy is extremely difficult. Not even
the leading civilian statesmen of Japan
seem to have known, and Prince Aya-
maro Konoye, thrice Premier and a poli-
tician who made co-operation with the
Army the keystone of his career, com-
plained that he never knew where Army
opinion originated. 8 But there was no
doubt about the essentials of this pro-
gram. Its basic objective was to make
Japan strong enough to become the un-

" Memoirs of Prince Konoye, in Pearl Harbor At-
tack: Hearings Before the Joint Committee on the
Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack (Washing-
ton, 1946), 39 Parts, (hereafter cited as Pearl Harbor
Attack Hearings), pt. 20, exhibit 173, p. 4014.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

challenged leader of Asia. This could
be accomplished, the Japanese military
leaders believed, only by the expansion
of the heavy industries necessary to sup-
port a modern war machine, the inte-
gration of the economic resources of
Manchuria into the Japanese economy,
the establishment of a firm position on
the Asiatic continent, and the acquisition
of the strategic raw materials needed to
make the nation self-sufficient. Without
these materials, most of which could be
found in the East Indies and Malaya,
Japan's pretensions to leadership in Asia
were empty shadows.

The Army's program became the of-
ficial policy of the Japanese Government
in August 1936. At that time the most
important members of the Cabinet, in-
cluding the Premier and the War, Navy,
Foreign, and Finance Ministers, met to
fix the program of the new administra-
tion. The agreement reached at that
meeting gave the Army and the nation-
alists all they wanted. Japan, the five
Ministers agreed, must acquire a "firm
position" on the Asiatic continent — a
euphemistic way of saying that China
must be conquered; expand into south-
east Asia to secure the bases and raw
materials needed to make the nation
strong; and take steps to counter the
Russian menace to the north. The Min-
isters had no difficulty in agreeing on
the measures required to achieve these
objectives: the Army (including its air
arm) and the Navy would have to be
strengthened, trade and industry expand-
ed, and air and sea transportation im-
proved. Finally, the Ministers agreed
that to steel the national will and unify
public opinion for the coming emer-
gency, it would be necessary "to establish
good living conditions for the people,

increase their bodily strength and foster
sound thinking." 7

The five Ministers carefully avoided
any reference to military action. Rather,
they stated explicitly that the expansion
southward was to be gradual and peace-
ful, that every care would be exercised
"to avoid aggravating friendly relations
with other nations" and "to allay the
Great Powers' suspicion and apprehen-
sion toward the Empire." 8 But the goals
these Ministers set for Japan clearly im-
plied military action. The Soviet Union
would certainly oppose expansion in the
north, and Great Britain and the United
States could be expected to dispute any
violation of the territorial integrity of
China. To these opponents could be
added the French and the Dutch, who
would challenge Japan's expansion
southward. Basic, therefore, to the new
administration's program was the success
of the effort to increase the nation's mili-
tary and naval might and its capacity to
wage war.

With agreement on the aims and
methods of national policy, the Army-
dominated Japanese Government moved
closer to its natural allies, Germany and
Italy, and on 25 November 1936 signed
the Anti-Comintern Pact directed prin-
cipally against Soviet Russia. The next
move came in July 1937 when Japanese
military forces, after a trumped-up inci-
dent near Peiping, marched into north-
ern China. This action, like the
Manchurian incident, was taken by the
Army alone, without the knowledge or
approval of the Cabinet, but no difficul-

'IMTFE, exhibit ai6; Political Strategy Prior to
Outbreak of War, pt. I, Japanese Studies in World
War II, 144, app. 1.

'Ibid.

JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941

ties developed on that account in the first
phase. The government readily support-
ed the Army, on condition that it exert
every effort to prevent the spread of the
incident. 9

The vigor of the Chinese reaction
soon led to full-scale war, an eventuality
the Japanese military leaders neither ex-
pected nor desired. 10 With command of
the sea and air and with overwhelming
superiority in men and equipment, the
Japanese were able to occupy quickly
the capital and the large coastal cities of
China. But they were never able to ex-
tend their control much beyond the
navigable rivers and the railroads or to
bring the China incident to a successful
close. It became an increasingly heavy
drain on the nation's resources and a
constant source of embarrassment to the
Army.

The United States, like the other pow-
ers with interests in China, could hardly
be expected to acquiesce in this new ven-
ture and in the destruction of the Nine-
Power Treaty. In unmistakable terms
it made clear to Japan that it still stood
by the open-door policy and the terri-
torial integrity of China, and that it
considered Japan's action in China a vio-
lation of existing treaties. At the same
time the United States Government acted
with extreme caution and restraint, re-
sisting public pressure to boycott the
shipment of oil and scrap iron to Japan
and declining all offers to mediate in
the dispute.

"Political Strategy Prior to the Outbreak of War,
pt. I, app. 5, Japanese Studies in World War II, 144.

10 Diary of Marquis Koichi Kido, submitted as an
affidavit to IMTFE, p. 34. For a full account of the
China incident from the Japanese point of view, see
Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War, pt. I,
Japanese Studies in World War II, 144.

Japan was just as anxious to avoid an
open break and when the Panay was
sunk in December 1937, quickly apol-
ogized and made indemnity. But so
long as Japan persisted in its efforts to
conquer China and the United States
continued to insist on the territorial in-
tegrity of China and to aid that nation,
no real solution of the China incident
or restoration of good relations between
the two countries was possible.

As the area of disagreement with the
United States and Great Britain grew
larger, Japan moved closer to the Axis.
To the military, the future of Japan was
closely tied to the destiny of Nazi Ger-
many. The Anti-Comintern Pact had
already paid dividends. Hitler had re-
fused to participate in the Brussels Con-
ference of November 1937, called to seek
a settlement of the conflict in China,
and had kept the Western Powers so pre-
occupied with European problems that
they were unwilling to take any co-
ordinated action in the Far East. But
when the Japanese sought a full political
and military alliance which would free
them from the danger of Russian inter-
ference and recognize their special posi-
tion in China, Hitler countered with a
demand for military aid against Britain
and France. This the Japanese were not
prepared to promise and for two years
the negotiations hung fire.

Meanwhile the relations between
Japan and the United States steadily
worsened. Six months after the sinking
of the Panay, the United States placed a
"moral embargo" on the export of air-
craft and aircraft equipment to Japan,
the first in a series of economic meas-
ures designed to deter Japanese aggres-
sion. Japan responded in November by
announcing its intention of establishing

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Japanese Troops Marching Through the Peiping Gate, September 1937.

a "Co-Prosperity Sphere" in east Asia
and expressing a pious hope that other
nations would "understand the true
intentions of Japan and adopt policies
suitable for the new conditions." 11 Both
the United States and Great Britain rec-
ognized this policy for what it was and
countered with loans to the Chungking
government.

By the spring of 1939 the Army was
ready to commit Japan fully to the Axis.
But there was sharp disagreement in
the Cabinet. The Navy and Foreign
Ministers insisted on an agreement
directed primarily against the Soviet
Union and refused to accept any com-
mitment which might involve Japan in
a war against the Western Powers. They

11 United States Relations with China, Dept of
State Pub 3573 (Washington, 1949), p. 21.

were willing, however, to agree to lesser
commitments in the hope that the United
States and Great Britain might thus be
forced to accept the situation in China.
But the Army pressed for the full mili-
tary agreement demanded by Germany,
and even planned to negotiate separately
to secure such an alliance. Neither side
would give way.

On 23 August 1939 Germany, without
Japan's knowledge, concluded a neutral-
ity pact with Russia. A week later Ger-
many invaded Poland and the war in
Europe began. The German-Soviet Pact
was a stunning blow to Japan's program
for expansion and to the Army's pres-
tige. The Japanese felt betrayed and
bewildered and the Premier promptly
offered his resignation to the Emperor,
asserting bitterly that the failure of Ja-
pan's foreign policy had resulted from

JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941

Konoye Cabinet of June 1937.
Konoye, and General Sugiyama.

Circled faces are, from left, Admiral Tonai, Premier

"the unreasonableness of the Army." 12
A combination of civilian statesmen and
Navy leaders, taking advantage of the
Army's political eclipse, then attempted
to reorient national policy toward better
relations with Great Britain and the
United States. The Cabinet formed for
this purpose lasted only four months
and was succeeded by a compromise
Cabinet headed by Admiral Mitsumasa
Yonai, the former Navy Minister.

All efforts to win over America and
Britain foundered on the issue of China.
On 26 July the United States had served
notice on Japan of its intention to abro-
gate the commercial treaty which had
governed the trade relations between the

"Saionji-Harada Memoirs, 1931-1940 (34 parts
with appendixes), Civil Intel Sec, G— 2 FEC, copy in
OCMH, quoted in Feis, The Road to Pearl Harbor,
P-34-

two countries since 1911, and in Decem-
ber of 1939 prohibited Americans from
furnishing Japan with technical infor-
mation and manufacturing rights for
the production of high-grade aviation
gasoline. After January 1940, when the
commercial treaty lapsed, the United
States was free to employ economic sanc-
tions against Japan. Congress, in June
of that year, passed the National Defense
Act which made it possible for the Presi-
dent to prohibit exports to Japan and
on 2 July President Franklin D. Roose-
velt put the export license system into
effect by restricting the shipment of arms
and ammunition, certain strategic mate-
rials such as aluminum, and airplane
parts.

Japanese sentiment, which had veered
toward the Western Powers after the
German-Soviet Pact, shifted back toward

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Germany in the spring of 1940 as the
Axis gained one victory after another in
quick succession. Once more the Army
point of view found favor and support.
The German-Soviet Pact had ruled out,
at least temporarily, expansion north-
ward, but the opportunities for easy con-
quest in the south were better than ever
once Holland and France had fallen.
The forces behind a full military and
political alliance with Germany could
now argue that such an alliance would
secure Japan on the north, discourage
American interference in China, and
smooth the paths of empire to the south.

Once more overtures were made to the
Germans. This time Hitler asked as
payment for supporting Japan's ambi-
tions in southeast Asia a Japanese com-
mitment to hold the United States at
bay by threatening Hawaii and the Phil-
ippines if America entered the war in
Europe. The Premier thought the price
too high, and the Army, now fully re-
stored to its former prestige and political
influence, brought about the fall of the
Cabinet on 16 July 1940. Prince Konoye,
who had been Premier in 1938 and was
favorable to the Army's program, took
over the reigns of government next.

In July 1940 Japan stood ready to
embark on a course of unreserved expan-
sion to establish the new order in Greater
East Asia on the ruins of the crumbling
British, Dutch, and French Empires.
Only the United States was in a position
to check Japan's ambitions, but such
opposition, the Japanese believed, could
be overcome with the assistance of Ger-
many and Italy. Once a military pact
with the Axis Powers had been signed
and the war in China ended, then Japan
would be free to establish the new order
in Asia. All this, the Japanese leaders

hoped, could be accomplished peacefully,
but if not, the Japanese intended to be
ready, for since 1931 they had been pre-
paring the nation for war.

Economic and Military Preparations

In the decade 1930-40, industrial pro-
duction in Japan increased at a phenom-
enal rate. In the opening year of the
decade, Japanese industrial output was
valued at six billion yen and the em-
phasis was on the light industries; by
1941 production had increased fivefold
and heavy industry constituted 72.7 per-
cent of the total. 13

The military significance of this sensa-
tional rise in industrial production can
be found in the emphasis on heavy in-
dustries, the basis of any modern mili-
tary machine, and a measure of its
importance lies in the increase in annual
steel production from 1.8 to 6.8 million
tons. In 1930 Japan had produced only
500 vehicles and 400 aircraft. Ten years
later the annual production of vehicles
was 48,000 units, and the Japanese air-
craft industry was manufacturing over
5,000 planes annually. Shipbuilding in
Japan showed a similar increase during
these years. Deliveries under the naval
construction program in this period to-
taled 476,000 tons, and construction of
merchant ships rose from 92,093 tons in
1931 to 405,195 tons in 1937. 14

"Jerome B. Cohen, Japan's Economy in War and
Reconstruction (Minneapolis, Minn.: University of
Minnesota Press, 1949), p- 1; United States Strategic
Bombing Survey (USSBS), The Effects of Strategic
Bombing on Japan's War Economy (Washington,
1946), p. 12.

"Cohen, Japan's Economy in War and Reconstruc-
tion, pp. 2-3; USSBS, Japanese Naval Shipbuilding
(Washington, 1946), p. 1; USSBS, Japanese Merchant
Shipbuilding (Washington, 1947), pp. 4—5.

JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941

Table 1 —Japanese Military Budget, 1931-1940
(in millions of yen)

Year

Military Budget

as Percent of

Total Expenditures

1931

434

733

873

955

1,032

1,105

3,953

6,097

6,417

7,266

29.4

1932

37.6

1933

39.2

1934

44.2

1935

46.8

1936

48.4

1937

71.6

1938

75.4

1939

71.7

1940

65.9

SouTCt: Cohen, Japan's Economy in War and Reconstruction, p. S.

Much of this increase in industrial
production, especially in the heavy in-
dustries, was due to government expend-
itures for military purposes which rose
sharply after 1936 as a result of the Feb-
ruary igg6 incident and the Army's
ascendancy. (Table 1) Military expendi-
tures after 1936 reflected military dom-
ination of political life. The entire
economy of the nation was rigidly con-
trolled and oriented toward war; the
armament industries were expanded,
and every effort was made to stockpile
strategic raw materials. 15

The production of armaments after
1936 increased rapidly to meet the de-
mands of the China war. This increase
was accomplished under a 5-year plan
developed by the Army in 1937 and
officially adopted by the Cabinet two
years later. Separate programs were es-
tablished for Japan, Manchuria, and
northern China, and certain industries
considered essential for war were select-

ed for rapid expansion. 16 Some success
was achieved in Manchuria under the
5-year plan but the program for Japan
had to be modified several times. The
aviation and munitions industries made
rapid progress, the steel industry
achieved a remarkable success, and the
production of machine tools surpassed
the goals established. But other basic
industries, such as the production of
synthetic oil and hydroelectric power,
were limited by the shortage of raw
materials, and, despite the most strenu-
ous efforts, failed to reach the goals set
by the Army. 17

During these years the Japanese armed
forces also began building up stockpiles
of essential supplies. Reserves of weap-
ons, ammunition, and other important
military equipment were adequate, but
those of certain strategic materials were

"IMTFE, Judgment, pt. B, pp. 1141!.

le lbid., p. 353.

"History of the Army Section, Imperial General
Headquarters, 1941—1945, Japanese Studies in World
War II, 7s, p. 5; Cohen, Japan's Economy in War and
Reconstruction, ch. I.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

not. The quantity of bauxite on hand
in 1941 totaled 254,740 tons, which rep-
resented a 9-month supply. Also, since
1938, Japan had been forced to draw
upon its stockpile of iron ore for the
war in China, and at the end of 1941
had only a few months' reserve. 18

The shortage of petroleum produc-
tion was the key to Japan's military situ-
ation. It was the main problem for those
preparing for war and, at the same time,
the reason that the nation was moving
toward war. For the Navy, the shortage
of oil was critical; for the Army it was
always a limitation. To secure reserves
of this precious commodity, Japan im-
ported heavily during the decade of the
1930's, the amount reaching 37,160,000
barrels in 1940. During that year Japan
produced only 3,163,000 barrels, less
than 12 percent of the nation's peace-
time requirements. To increase the
amount available for military use, civil-
ian consumption of oil was curtailed
sharply after 1937, and practically all
civilian motor traffic was abolished or
required to use wood and charcoal burn-
ers. Despite these measures, Japan had
only 43,000,000 barrels of oil reserves in
1941, an amount sufficient at most for
two years of war under the most favor-
able conditions, if supplemented by
resources within the empire. 19

The growth of Japan's military forces
matched its industrial growth during
these critical years. Between 1936 and
1941, the number of men conscripted
for the Army doubled. At the end of
1937 Japan had 24 divisions, 16 of which
were stationed in China; three years lat-

er the total had risen to 50: 27 in China,
12 in Manchuria, and the remainder in
Korea and the home islands. The Army
Air Forces showed the greatest pro-
portionate growth, increasing from 54
squadrons in 1937 to 150 in 1941. Pilots
were well trained and about half of
them had actual combat experience in
China or i n border fi ghting with Soviet
Russia. 2

(Table 2)

Japan's naval forces, which had been
limited first by the Washington Naval
Conference (1921) and then by the Lon-
don Naval Conference (1930) , grew
rapidly after 1936 when Japan with-
drew from the naval conference of that
year. In 1937, twenty new vessels with
a tonnage of 55,360 tons were complet-
ed; the next year this amount increased
to 63,589 tons, and by 1941 had reached
the prewar peak of 225,159 tons. This
tonnage represented one battleship of
the Yamato class, 10 carriers of unspeci-
fied tonnages, 7 cruisers, and 37 destroy-
ers. 21 By 1941, Japanese combat ton-
nage had risen to 1,059,000 tons, more
than twice that of 1922, and Japan's fleet
was more powerful than the combined
United States-British fleets in the Pacific.

Despite these preparations for war,
the Japanese Army and Navy had no
military or naval plans to guide them.
There were in the files of the supreme
command statements dealing with na-
tional defense policy and with the em-
ployment of troops, but these dated from
1930 and were expressed in general prin-
ciples rather than in terms of specific
operations. Moreover, they provided
only for a defensive war against either

"Cohen, Japan's Economy in War and Reconstruc-
tion, p. 48.

"USSBS, Oil in Japan's War (Washington, 1946),
p. 1.

"Hist of Army Sec, Imperial GHQ, Japanese
Studies in World War II, 73, pp. 2-3; USSBS, Japa-
nese Air Power (Washington, 1946), pp. 4—5.

21 USSBS, Japanese Naval Shipbuilding, app. A.

JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941

Table 2 — Japanese Army Ground and Air Forces

and Navy Air Forces

1937-1941

Army Ground
Forces

Divisions

Army Air Forces
(First-Line Aii craft)

Navy Air Forces

Year

Bomber b

Fighters

Ren

Carrier-
Based

Land-Based

Bombers

Fighters

Torpedo

Othere

1937-

24 (plus

6 Reserve

Divisions)

34
41
50
51

210

330
450
500
660

210

240
280
360
550

120
130

180
200
290

216

269
201
167
684

204

228
288
264
443

132

132
132
132

252

108

132

156

180

178

1938

200

1939

228

1940.

306

1941 (8 Dec)

198

Source: Japanese Opns in SWPA, GHQ Hist Series, II, p. 54.

the United States or the Soviet Union,
and emphasized that in no case should
Japan fight more than one of these coun-
tries at the same time. There was no
mention in these statements of a possible
war with Great Britain or the Nether-
lands, or of war against a combination
of these powers. They were, in the words
of one Japanese officer, "outdated writ-
ings" and "utterly nonsensical from the
standpoint of authority and contents." 22
The lack of a concrete strategical plan
was partially overcome by the Army and
Navy's annual operations plans. Each
year the two services worked out their
own plans for operations against the
two named enemies separately and then
submitted them for Imperial approval.
These plans made no provision for total
war, and so long as the government re-
fused to decide which was the most likely
enemy or to admit the possibility of war
with more than one nation, it was im-

possible to establish priorities, for a wair
against Russia would require strengthen-
ing the Army and a war against the
United States would call for larger naval
appropriations. The Navy's 1940 plan
for a war with the United States, there-
fore, simply declared that the Imperial
Navy, in co-operation with the Army,
would destroy American strength in the
Far East and maintain command of Far
Eastern waters "by intercepting and
crushing American fleets." 23 How Amer-
ica was to be defeated was never even
considered.

The Army's annual plan for 1 940 em-
phasized defensive operations against the
Soviet Union from Manchuria. Opera-
tions to the south were "secondary and
supplementary in importance." 24 In case
of war with the United States, the plan-
ners expected that Japanese forces would

"Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War, pt.
IV, Japanese Studies in World War II, 150, pp. 1—2.

"Ibid., p. 2.

"Deposition of former Lt. Gen. Shinichi Tanaka,
Chief of Operations, Japanese General Staff, IMTFE,
exhibit 3027.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

take the Philippines and Guam, but
made no concrete plans for their seizure
or for countering American reaction.
The main objective of the Army, they
believed, was to prepare against attack,
not to fight a war against the United
States. The 1940 plan was equally vague
about Great Britain and the Nether-
lands. In case of war the plan provided
for the seizure of Hong Kong and Singa-
pore, but not for the Netherlands Indies,
Burma, India, or Australia. Japan, said
the Army's Chief of Operations, "had
no capacity to meet the need of a crisis
. . . with drastic measures on a grand
scale." 25

Thus, throughout the decade of the
1930's, the Japanese leaders had no mili-
tary strategy for a war against a coalition
such as they later faced, and their policy
was based almost entirely on political
considerations and on what one officer
called their "exceedingly conceptual and
common sense understanding of war
strategy." Deliberations of the Cabinet
and of the Liaison and Imperial Confer-
ences, 28 though attended by Army and
Navy officers, were not limited by pre-
cise studies and plans outlining the
course of military and naval action to be
taken in every conceivable situation.
They were guided, rather, by political
strategy "pushed without any considera-
tion of a definite war strategy plan." 27

"•Ibid.

M The Liaison Conference was an informal body
consisting of the service chiefs, the principal civilian
ministers, and other high government officials, and
served as a link between Imperial General Head-
quarters and the Cabinet. The same body when it
met with the Emperor on more important occasions
and under more formal circumstances was known as
the Imperial Conference.

"Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War, pt.
IV, Japanese Studies in World War II, 150, p. 3.

Japan Moves South

The program of the Konoye Cabinet,
which took office on 22 July 1940, set
the course of Japanese policy for the
next critical year. This program was
drawn up on 19 July, even before the
Cabinet had been organized, and was
accepted by the four principal ministers
— the Premier, Prince Konoye, War
Minister Hideki Tojo, Navy Minister
Zengo Yoshida, and Foreign Minister
Yosuke Matsuoka, whom Cordell Hull
called "as crooked as a basket of fish-
hooks." The new administration, it was
agreed, would make its main objective
the establishment of a new order in east
Asia, known as the Greater East Asia
Co-Prosperity Sphere. Included in this
sphere at first were Hong Kong, Burma,
French Indochina, Thailand, Malaya,
the Netherlands Indies, the Philippines,
and New Guinea; later India, Australia,
and New Zealand were added to the
list. Specific measures designed to gain
this grand objective included a closer
alliance with the Axis, a nonaggression
pact with the Soviet Union, and every
effort necessary to bring the China war
to an end. While there were some dif-
ferences among the four ministers over
the nature and timing of the actual
measures to be taken, there was no ques-
tion about basic objectives. And all were
agreed that any nation that opposed this
program was the enemy of Japan. 28

28 Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War pt.
II, Japanese Studies in World War II, 146, pp. 10-16.
Unless otherwise indicated, this section is based upon
Feis, The Road to Pearl Harbor, passim; Ballantine,
"Mukden to Pearl Harbor," Foreign Affairs (July,
1949), pp. 658—61; IMTFE, Judgment, pt. B, pp.
487-520, pp. 864-903, and the Japanese sources cited
above.

JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941

The program outlined on the igth
was discussed and approved by the full
Cabinet on the 26th and, the following
day, by a Liaison Conference. The deci-
sions of this last conference, which be-
came, in effect, the policy of the Japa-
nese Government, differed only slightly
from the preliminary program drawn up
by the four ministers on the 19th. They
were embodied in a document entitled
General Principles To Cope With the
Changing World Situation, laying down
four specific measures designed to end
the war in China and to give Japan a
dominant position in southeast Asia:

1. The elimination of all aid to the
Chungking government by third powers.

2. Adoption of "a firm attitude" to-
ward the United States and, at the same
time, the strengthening of political ties
with the Axis and a drastic readjustment
of relations with Russia.

3. Stronger diplomatic measures
against the Netherlands Indies in order
to secure vital raw materials.

4. Intensification of political, eco-
nomic, and military preparations for

war.

Japan hoped to gain these objectives by
peaceful means but was prepared where
necessary to use force. "In employing
armed strength," it was agreed at the
Liaison Conference, "efforts will be
made to limit the war adversary to Great
Britain insofar as possible. However,
thorough preparations for the com-
mencement of hostilities against the
United States will be made as it may
prove impossible to avoid war with that
country." 29

The first and most pressing problem
for the new Konoye Cabinet was the
conflict in China. Already the United
States had indicated that it was in no
mood to discontinue its support of Chi-
ang. On 25 July, only three days after
Prince Konoye had taken office, Presi-
dent Roosevelt added scrap iron and oil
to the list of items whose export was
subject to license. But the Japanese,
undeterred by this warning and by the
prompt rejection of fresh peace over-
tures to the Chungking Government,
sought to take advantage of the weakness
of Vichy France by demanding, first, the
right to send troops into northern Indo-
china, adjacent to the China border, to
intercept supplies to Chiang Kai-shek;
and second, control of the airfields there
to provide bases from which to bomb the
Burma Road and Chungking. These de-
mands had been specifically outlined in
the "General Principles" adopted on 27
July and Japan was ready to resort to
force to gain them. But military action
proved unnecessary, for on 29 August,
after the Germans had brought pressure
on Vichy France, the French yielded. A
month later Japanese troops entered
Indochina. 30 Despite the explanation of
Foreign Minister Matsuoka that this ac-
tion was a normal military measure
against China, the United States entered
a formal protest. This was an empty
gesture; more tangible was the loan of
another twenty-five million dollars to
Chiang Kai-shek and extension of the
embargo on scrap iron and steel.

The effort of the Konoye Cabinet to
secure strategic raw materials from the
Netherlands Indies, an effort which

M IMTFE, exhibit igio; Political Strategy Prior to
Outbreak of War, pt. II, Japanese Studies in World
War II, 146, app. 2.

M Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War, pt.
II, Japanese Studies in World War II, 146, pp. 7—9,
app. 2.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

American economic measures had made
more urgent, met with little success. On
16 July the Japanese had notified the
Dutch that they wished to send a mission
to discuss the relations between the two
countries, and, after an exchange of
notes limiting the scope of the mission
to economic matters, the Minister of
Commerce, Ichizo Kobayashi, and a staff
of twenty-four experts, left for Batavia.
The talks began early in September with
the Japanese demanding large oil con-
cessions in the Indies and three million
tons of oil annually for five years, an
amount that represented about three-
fifths of Japan's normal requirements.
The Dutch companies with whom the
Japanese dealt, urged on by the British
and the Americans, refused to meet these
large demands. They were willing to
send only half the amount requested
and that on a 6-month contract basis.
Kobayashi left Batavia on 22 October,
and, though the conversations continued
for some months more, the Japanese
were never able to get what they want-
ed. But they took what they could — a
slight increase in the amount of rubber,
tin, and bauxite, and an agreement with
the oil companies for the quantities
offered.

On 27 September, four days after the
dispatch of troops into French Indo-
china, Japan concluded the Tripartite
Pact with Germany and Italy, thus
achieving one more objective in the
program outlined by the Liaison Con-
ference. Under the terms of this agree-
ment, Germany and Italy recognized the
leadership of Japan in bringing a new
order to Asia, and Japan, on its part,
recognized the new order in Europe.
More important was the commitment of
the signatories to come to each other's

aid "with all political, economic, and
military means" should any of them be
attacked by a power with which it was
not then at war. Since Germany and
Italy were at war with the western Euro-
pean nations, and since the pact was not
to have any effect on the existing rela-
tions of the signatories with Soviet Rus-
sia, it was evident that the Tripartite
Pact was a warning to the United States
to remain neutral.

The decision to conclude the Tripar-
tite Pact had been made on 19 Septem-
ber at the Imperial Conference. The
agreements reached at this meeting con-
stitute an important guide to what Japan
hoped to achieve from the alliance with
Germany and Italy and what the policy
of the nation would be in the months to
come. Clearly, the ministers expected
support in their efforts to expand south-
ward and end the war in China. With
the co-operation of the Axis they hoped
to induce the Russians to advance to-
ward the Persian Gulf, and possibly
India, that is, in a direction that would
not threaten Japan. They hoped also,
with the co-operation of Germany and
Italy, to bring pressure on the United
States to accept Japan's claims in the
south and in China.

But the four ministers did not expect
to pay for this support with military
action, except where it was necessary to
gain their own objectives. They agreed
that they would assist the Axis against
Great Britain by measures short of war,
but reserved the right to make their own
decisions on the use of armed force
against that nation and the United
States. If the war in China were near a
conclusion, the four ministers decided,
then Japan might resort to force to gain
its objectives, waiting only for the right

JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941

moment. But until that time, they
agreed, Japan would not go to war
against Great Britain or the United
States unless the situation permitted no
delay. 31

It is clear that Japan did not interpret
the Tripartite Pact as a commitment to
war, and, as a matter of fact, the Em-
peror agreed to it with misgivings and
only after he had been assured that it
would not lead to hostilities. 32 The
Konoye Cabinet evidently believed that
the United States (and the Soviet
Union) would not intervene in the Far
East if the advance southward was
achieved gradually and by diplomatic
means. They hoped that the United
States would be forced by the Tripartite
Pact to remain neutral and that the issue
would be between Japan and the British,
Dutch, and French who were in no
position to dispute Japanese expansion
southward. Soviet opposition was to be
overcome through the intervention of
Germany. 33

These hopes were entirely unrealistic.
The United States had never retreated
from its position on China and had
declined time and again to recognize
Japan's interpretation of treaties to which
the United States was a party. Instead
of showing any timidity or weakness, the
United States Government on this occa-
sion adopted a firm but cautious atti-

31 IMTFE, exhibit 541; IMTFE, Judgment, pp.
504-508. Takushiro Hattori, The Complete History
of the Greater East Asia War, translated from Japa-
nese by FEC, Doc. 78002, 1, 42-45, OCMH.

" Political Strategy Prior to the Outbreak of War,
pt. II, Japanese Studies in World War II, 146, app. 4
and pp. 20—25. The latter reference contains an ac-
count of the 26 September conference with the Em-
peror to discuss the treaty.

"German-Japanese Relations From 1936 to 1943,
MIS237g54, Mil Intel Div Library; IMTFE, exhibits
55', 552-

tude. Cordell Hull announced to news-
men that the pact did not substantially
alter the situation, but his statement was
belied by the announcement on 8 Octo-
ber 1940 that consuls in the Far East had
been instructed to advise American citi-
zens to return home, and that three lin-
ers had been sent to the Orient to hasten
their evacuation. 34 Already the Pacific
Fleet, which was normally based on the
west coast, had been ordered to remain
at Pearl Harbor indefinitely, and prepa-
rations were being made to strengthen
American garrisons in Alaska, Hawaii,
and Panama. 35

While maintaining a firm attitude to-
ward Japan, the United States Govern-
ment adopted a policy designed to "avoid
an open struggle in the Pacific" so that
American resources would not be divert-
ed from the main tasks — strengthening
the nation's military forces and aiding
Britain. Japan, it was agreed, was not
to be pushed "to the point where her
military elements would demand war." 36
The door was to be left open for discus-
sion and agreement, but the United
States was to maintain its treaty rights
in the Far East, continue to exert eco-
nomic pressure against Japan, and pro-
vide aid to China. The Tripartite Pact,
in the view of the United States, had
placed Japan in the Axis camp and
Japan was to be treated as one of the

"Cordell Hull, The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, 2
vols. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948), I,
914—15; Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins:
An Intimate History (New York: Harper & Brothers,
1948), p. 271. See also Ltr. Joseph C. Grew, formerly
U.S. Ambassador to Japan, to author, 19 Jun 49, copy
in OCMH.

"Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. I, exhibit 9,
p. 943. Mark Skinner Watson, Chief of Staff: Prewar
Plans and Preparations, UNITED STATES ARMY
IN WORLD WAR II (Washington, ig 5 o), ch, XIV.

"Hull, Memoirs, I, 911.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Axis Powers. The last chance of settling
Japanese- American conflicts as a separate
problem, divorced from European af-
fairs, was gone. In his Fireside Chat of
29 December 1940, President Roosevelt
emphasized that the Tripartite Pact rep-
resented a threat to the United States
and that the nation for its own defense
must increase its aid to the free nations
and make greater efforts to rearm. 37

In spite of the fact that the Tripartite
Pact had failed to convince the United
States that acceptance of Japan's pro-
gram for expansion was desirable, the
Konoye Cabinet continued along the
path laid out by the Liaison Conference
of 27 July. Every effort was made to
bring the war in China to an end; when
air bombardment failed, the Japanese
solicited the support of German diplo-
macy. The only result of these measures
was another American loan to Chiang
Kai-shek, this time for a hundred million
dollars. Japanese policy was no more
successful in the Indies. The conversa-
tions begun in September dragged on,
with a new special envoy taking Koba-
yashi's place in January 1941. The
Dutch so stoutly resisted Japanese pres-
sure for economic co-operation that the
new envoy reported that force alone
would produce the desired results. "How
can we compromise," complained one of
the Japanese delegates, "when you re-
fuse to accept our views." 38 But Japan
was not yet ready for war and rather
than lose prestige by breaking off the
negotiations Konoye instructed the dele-
gates to remain in Batavia.

37 U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of
the United States, Japan: 1931— 1941, 2 vols. (Wash-
ington, 1943), II, 173-81.

38 Joseph C. Grew, Ten Years in Japan (New YoTk:
Simon and Schuster, 1944), p. 213.

In Indochina and Thailand the Japa-
nese made important gains. Seizing the
pretext of a border dispute between the
two countries, Japan offered its services
as mediator, after prior arrangement
with Thailand, "on the ground of main-
taining stability in Greater East Asia." 39
Britain was particularly concerned over
Japan's entry into the dispute and the
possibility of Japanese military inter-
vention in an area so close to Burma,
Malaya, and Singapore, and urged the
French to negotiate. Neither British
nor American efforts to end the dispute
proved successful, and on 20 January
1941 Japan made a formal offer of medi-
ation. It was accepted by both parties,
the Vichy Government acceding only
after German persuasion, and on the last
day of the month a truce was signed.
But a final settlement was still to be
reached.

Japan's aims in the border dispute be-
tween Thailand and French Indochina
were defined at the Liaison Conference
of 30 January, when it was decided that
Japan would use its position as mediator
to obtain from the French naval bases
in Camranh Bay and air bases near
Saigon for a possible attack later against
Singapore, an attack which the Germans
were urging with vigor. Both countries
would be required to sign agreements
with Japan and promise not to conclude
with any third power pacts affecting that
nation. If either proved intractable it
was agreed that force would be used, and
for this purpose a large naval force was
ordered to take up positions along the
coasts of Indochina and Thailand. To
the rest of the world, which noted these
naval movements with considerable con-

89 Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War, pt.
Ill, Japanese Studies in World War II, 147, p. 12.

JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941

cern, Japan protested that its only inter-
est in the affair was to bring about peace
in east Asia.

Conversations for the settlement of
the boundary dispute were to open in
Tokyo at the beginning of February, but
the Vichy Government, though it had
agreed to the armistice, would not agree
so readily to Japanese mediation. Un-
fortunately, neither the United States
nor Great Britain was in a position to
affect the outcome, and the French fin-
ally agreed on 1 1 March, under the com-
bined pressure of Germany and Japan,
to accept mediation of the dispute and
not to enter into any agreement inimical
to Japan. The boundary controversy
was settled on 9 May when the French
ceded to Thailand most of the land in
dispute, but Japan did not receive its
wages until the end of July.

The date on which Vichy France ac-
ceded to the Japanese mediation plan,
1 1 March, was by coincidence the day
on which the American Congress ap-
proved and the President signed the
Lend-Lease Act. The stated purpose of
this law was to promote the defense of
the United States, but its real meaning
lay in the aid it offered to the nations
fighting the Axis. It was clearly a decla-
ration of cold war against the Axis Pow-
ers, and was taken by them as such.
There was no longer any doubt for those
who could read American opinion right-
ly that the United States had taken its
stand with Britain and China and would
push all measures short of war to prevent
their defeat.

The Konoye Cabinet, indifferent to
or unable to comprehend the extent of
American opposition, persisted in its ef-
forts to push through the program laid
down on 27 July 1940 in the General

Principles To Cope With the Changing
World Situation. One of the objectives
of this program, it will be recalled, was
"the readjustment of diplomatic rela-
tions with Soviet Russia." 40 Until the
beginning of 1941 the Konoye Cabinet
had been too involved in other matters
to act on this front, but at that time, as
Mr. Matsuoka, the Foreign Minister, was
preparing to visit Europe, the question
of an agreement with the Soviet Union
came up again. The trip to Europe was
approved and Matsuoka was instructed
to seek Soviet recognition of Japanese
supremacy in east Asia but to avoid mili-
tary commitments. Matsuoka left Tokyo
on 4 March. His first stop was Moscow
where he talked with Molotov about the
possibility of a nonaggression pact. Noth-
ing tangible resulted from these conver-
sations and Matsuoka went on to Berlin.
Hitler had already decided to attack
Russia, and urged that Japan take ag-
gressive action in the Far East, specifi-
cally against Singapore, to bring about
the final collapse of England. Not a word
was said about the forthcoming attack
on Russia, although Matsuoka may have
surmised it; instead, the Germans hinted
darkly about worsening relations with
the Soviet Union when the Japanese For-
eign Minister explained the nature of
his talks with Molotov.

On his return trip Matsuoka stopped
again in Moscow. The Russians had had
a month to consider his proposals. Per-
suaded perhaps by foreknowledge of the
impending German attack, as well as a
willingness to encourage Japan's drive
southward, Molotov and Stalin proved
remarkably amenable to Matsuoka's pro-
posals. On 13 April, after only a week

* Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War, pt.
II, Japanese Studies in World War II, 146, app. 2.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

of deliberation, an agreement that
pledged Japan and the Soviet Union to
respect each other's territorial integrity
and to remain neutral in case of attack
by a third power was signed.

The Japanese were jubilant over the
pact with Russia and immediately made
plans to push the program for expansion
to the south, a program to which the
Army and Navy were already heavily
committed. It had been decided earlier
that this expansion was to be achieved
by diplomatic means, but that prepara-
tions for military action must be rushed
if peaceful methods failed. On 6 Decem-
ber 1940 the Army had designated three
divisions, then in south China, to be
trained for operations in tropical areas,
and ten days later had directed com-
manders in China and Formosa to study
the problems involved in such operations
and to prepare area studies of the Indies,
Malaya, Indochina, Thailand, Burma,
the Philippines, and Guam. 41 Next
month the Japanese had begun aerial
reconnaissance of the Malayan coast and
the War Ministry and Foreign Office be-
gan to print military currency for use
in the southern area.

Among the military preparations the
Japanese undertook in the early spring
of 1941 was a plan to take Singapore, a
step the Germans favored highly for
their own purposes. The Japanese were
not averse to German support and were
using this support to wrest from the
Vichy Government advance bases in In-
dochina from which, presumably, they
would attack the British Far Eastern
bastion. Repeatedly the Japanese assured
the Germans that they hoped to take

Singapore, probably in May, but refused
to commit themselves beyond the occu-
pation of Saigon. They also assured the
Germans that they were making prepa-
rations for a possible war against the
United States, but had actually devel-
oped no plans for such a war other than
a personal study initiated in January by
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, command-
er of the Combined Fleet and an ardent
advocate of carrier-based operations, for
an attack against Pearl Harbor. 42

Japan's position in Indochina had
been greatly strengthened in May when
an economic and political agreement
with the Vichy Government was con-
cluded. But in southern Indochina,
where there were no Japanese troops,
there was strong anti-Japanese sentiment
supported by the de Gaullists, the Chin-
ese, the British, and the Americans. The
economic results of this sentiment were
most disadvantageous to the Japanese
and were reflected in the decreased
quantity of rice exported from Indo-
china to Japan and the threat that other
vital Indochinese resources such as rub-
ber, tin, coal, and manganese would find
their way into other markets. The occu-
pation of southern Indochina, therefore,
became an urgent matter for the Japa-
nese and one which was to have an im-
portant effect on their relations with
other nations.

Nor were Japanese efforts to wrest
concessions from the Dutch meeting with
success. The conversations had been
going from bad to worse, although the
Dutch had increased slightly the

"Imperial GHQ Army Dept Directives, 791, 6 Dec
40; 810, 16 Jan 41; and 812, 18 Jan 41, copies in
OCMH.

"Apparently this study was kept a secret from the
authorities, and even Yamamoto's staff, except
for Rear Adm. Ohnishi, knew nothing of it. State-
ment of Rear Adm. Tomioka, then Chief of the
Operational Section, Navy General Staff.

JAPANESE POLICY AND STRATEGY, 1931-JULY 1941

amounts of rubber, tin, bauxite, and
nickel promised the Japanese earlier.
But the requests for more oil and for
concessions in the Indies had not yet
been granted. Finally, on 17 June, Japan
broke off the conversations and ordered
its delegates home. Though the Japa-
nese sought to minimize its meaning,
this action was clearly an admission of
defeat.

By this time Japan was feeling the
pinch of shortages created by the con-
trols the United States had instituted
over shipments to Japan, and the rela-
tions between the two countries had im-
proved not at all. Efforts to settle the
outstanding disagreements between them
had begun in February, when Ambassa-
dor Kichisaburo Nomura arrived in the
United States. 43 After a series of pre-
liminary talks with President Roosevelt
and Mr. Hull, Nomura, on 18 April,
handed the Americans a 7-point proposal
as the basis for an agreement. Essential-
ly, this proposal called for the United
States to provide, or assist Japan in secur-
ing, strategic raw materials, and to per-
suade Chiang to reach agreement with
Japan. In return, Japan would agree
not to start war in the southwest Pacific
and to interpret the Tripartite Pact as
meaning Japan would support Germany
only if that nation were the object of
aggression. The proposal was not accept-
able to the Americans and was made
even less so by revisions from Tokyo.
On 30 May, Mr. Hull presented an in-
terim American proposal to Nomura and
on 2 1 June a second draft, to which was

"These conversations were initiated unofficially by
two clergymen. IMTFE, exhibit 3441, Ltr, Joseph
C. Grew to author, 19 Jun 49, OCMH. A full account
from the American side can be found in Hull,
Memoirs.

attached a "verbal memo" containing a
delicate reference to the lack of confi-
dence the Americans had in the pro-Axis
Japanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Mat-
suoka. The negotiations had reached a
deadlock and the only hopeful sign was
the trouble brewing within the Japanese
Cabinet where a change might produce
a shift in the direction of Japanese
policy.

The impending crisis in the Japanese
Government was rapidly accelerated by
the German invasion of the Soviet Union
on 22 June, the day after Hull handed
his note to Nomura. Though the Japa-
nese had expected the attack, they were
greatly upset when it came for it changed
the entire complexion of world events
and strengthened America's hand in the
Pacific. The Japanese were oriented to-
ward the south and seeking to obtain
from Vichy France, with Germany's help,
control over southern Indochina. This
new development opened up the possi-
bility of an advance northward, and thus
required a thorough review of Japan's
position and a reconsideration of the
program established a year before.

The course charted by the Liaison
Conference in July 1940 had by the mid-
dle of June 1941 brought Japan few of
the advantages so optimistically expect-
ed. More by military pressure than
diplomacy Japan had obtained from a
defeated and subjugated France the
right to occupy Tonkin Province in In-
dochina and the use of French air bases
and military facilities there. Hopes for
a base in southern Indochina had not
yet been realized; the results of the eco-
nomic agreement were proving disap-
pointing, and important opposition to
the new order in Asia was developing
in Indochina. Efforts to secure from the

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Dutch the oil and other resources needed
so desperately to support operations in
China and to prepare for war had yield-
ed meager results and ended in a serious
diplomatic defeat. Negotiations with the
United States had produced as yet no
easy formula for peace and there was no
sign that America would yield to the
minimum Japanese demands. The Tri-

partite Pact had paid dividends, but, as
events turned out, had proved unneces-
sary and had created a formidable ob-
stacle to an agreement with the United
States. But the Japanese were never able
to resolve the deadlock in China, and it
was this failure that forced them to adopt
in desperation a course that led almost
irresistibly to war.

CHAPTER III

Europe Versus the Pacific

The second rule is to concentrate your power as much as possible against
that section where the chief blows are to be delivered and to incur
disadvantages elsewhere. Clausewitz

Since 1938, when the last revision of
Orange was completed, American mili-
tary strategists had made every effort to
bring their plans into line with the
rapidly changing situation in Europe
and Asia. The world was dividing into
two armed camps. On one side were
Germany and Italy, associated with
Japan by the Anti-Comintern Pact. For
three years, these powers had been
pursuing their aggressive policies in
the Rhineland, Ethiopia, Austria, and
China. On the other side were the
democratic powers, Great Britain and
France. Still suffering from the pro-
longed economic crisis of the early 1930's
and weakened by domestic conflicts,
these two had remained passive in the
face of Axis threats and sought to avert
armed conflict by a policy of appease-
ment. While such hopes did not seem
entirely without foundation at the time,
American leaders could no longer ignore
the possibility of becoming involved in
a two-ocean war.

The 1938 revision of Orange, with its
emphasis on flexibility, represented an
effort to bring strategy into line with
the international situation. The Navy's
single-minded insistence on an advance
into the western Pacific was still reflected

in the plan, but it was modified by an
increasing awareness of the uncertainties
of a world threatened by the rising tide
of Axis aggression. The Army, with its
concern for the defense of the United
States, was shifting away from the Pacific
orientation that had dominated strategic
planning since World War I and was
turning anxious eyes toward Europe. A
Red or a Red-Orange war was no longer
within the realm of probability, but the
Atlantic area occupied more and more of
the attention of the strategists after 1938. 1

'The material covered in this chapter has been
treated more fully from different points of view and
with different emphases in a number of works in the
series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR
II: Maurice Matloff and Edwin M. Snell, Strategic
Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1941-1942 (Wash-
ington, 1953), chs. I— III; Watson, Chief of Staff:
Prewar Plans and Preparations, chs. IV, X, and XII;
Richard M. Leighton and Robert W. Coakley,
Global Logistics and Strategy, 1940-1943 (Washing-
ton, 1953), pt. one; Stetson Conn and Byron Fair-
child, The Framework of Hemisphere Defense
(Washington, 1960), chs. I— V; and also in William
L. Langer and S. Everett Gleason, The Undeclared
War, 1940-1941 (New York: Harper & Brothers,
1953). The present account is based on the original
sources, except where otherwise indicated, and has
appeared in slightly different form in Kent R. Green-
field, gen. ed.. Command Decisions (New York:
Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1959).

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Strategic Adjustment, ig^8-ig^o

Though it was the Army planners who
seemed most aware of the danger from
Europe, it was the Navy that made the
first move to strengthen America's Atlan-
tic defenses. In December 1937, shortly
after the Panay incident, the Director of
the Navy War Plans Division, Capt.
Royal E. Ingersoll, was sent to London
to discuss informally with the British
Admiralty the new construction pro-
grams of the two navies and the condi-
tions of U.S.-British naval co-operation
in the event both nations were involved
in a war against Japan. During the course
of these discussions, the possibility of a
German war inevitably arose. The Brit-
ish viewed this possibility with real con-
cern, for the Germans could be expected
to attack British trade routes in the
Atlantic. Should Italy join Germany,
the prospects were even more alarming.
The French, if they entered the war,
would hold the western Mediterranean,
but the British would still have to place
the bulk of their forces in the Atlantic.
They would have little, therefore, to
send to the Far East. Here the United
States could perform a valuable service
in the common cause by taking up the
slack in the Far East in return for the
security the Royal Navy would provide
in the Atlantic. Even if the United
States became involved in the European
conflict, Great Britain could still be relied
upon to man the Atlantic barrier so long
as the U.S. Fleet assumed responsibility
for the Pacific. It is perhaps for this
reason that the Navy members of the
Joint Planning Committee, in their dis-
cussions over Orange in 1938, seemed
less concerned about the Atlantic and

more interested in the Pacific than the
Army planners. 2

Events in Europe in the fall of 1938
fully justified the concern of American
policy makers and planners, and the
Munich crisis in September of that year
provided the impetus to a comprehensive
review of American strategy. Taking the
lead from the public statements of Pres-
ident Roosevelt and Secretary of State
Hull, the Joint Board directed its plan-
ning committee in November to make a
study of the course the United States
should follow if German and Italian
aggression in Europe and Japanese ex-
pansion in the Far East should threaten
American security and interests in both
the Atlantic and Pacific simultaneously. 3

Here, for the first time, was a specific
directive to the planners to study, within
the context of the current international
situation, the problems presented by a
two-ocean war in which the United
States, acting in concert with allies,
would be opposed by a coalition. These
problems had been studied before in the
Orange-Red plans, but under entirely
different assumptions and in a com-
pletely different situation. They had
been considered briefly and tangentially
also in the latest revision of Orange with
its provision for a position of readiness
and co-operation with allies. The infor-
mal naval conversations in London in
January 1938 were a clear recognition
of the possibility of such a war and the
first step toward the intimate military
collaboration that marked the Anglo-

*For an account of the staff conversations in Lon-
don early in 1938, see Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings,
pt. 9, pp. 4272-78 and Capt. Tracy B. Kittredge,
U.S.-British Naval Cooperation, 1939-1945, sec. I,
pt. C, pp. 37-38, MS in OCMH.

*Mins, JB Mtg, g Nov 1938.

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

American relationship during World
War II.

For almost six months the planners of
the Joint Board considered the problem
presented by simultaneous Axis aggres-
sion in the Atlantic and Pacific areas and
finally in April 1939 submitted their
report. In it they reviewed the world
situation, estimated the likelihood of
war, calculated the probable objectives
of the Axis in Europe and Japan in the
Far East, discussed the effects of con-
certed action by these powers on the
United States, and analyzed the strategic
problems involved in the various situa-
tions that might result from such action.
So comprehensive was the report, such a
model of strategic analysis, that it was
characterized by the Joint Board as "a
monument" to its planning committee
and became the basis for much of the
strategic planning before Pearl Harbor.*

In their effort to arrive at a sound
military strategy for the United States,
the ioint planners examined the various
contingencies that might arise as a result
of Axis aggression. Based on this
examination, they concluded:

1 . Germany and Italy would take overt
action in the Western Hemisphere only
if Great Britain and France remained
neutral or were defeated.

2. Japan would continue to expand
into China and Southeast Asia at the
expense of Great Britain and the United
States, by peaceful means if possible but
by force if necessary.

3. The three Axis Powers would act
together whenever the international
situation seemed favorable. If other

4 Mins, JB Mtg, 6 May 1939; Ltr, JPC Rpt, Explor-
atory Studies, 21 April iggg, JB 325, ser. 634. The
discussion of the report is based on the Exploratory
Studies and related papers in the same file.

countries, including the United States,
reacted promptly and vigorously to such
action then a general war might well
follow.

The reaction of the United States to
these or any other situations that might
arise, the planners pointed out, would
depend in large measure on the forces
available and the extent to which Amer-
ican interests were involved. In the
event of a threat in both oceans simul-
taneously, the United States, they main-
tained, should assume the defensive in
the Pacific, retaining adequate forces
based on Hawaii to guard the strategic
triangle. Arguing further in a manner
reminiscent of Red-Orange planning,
the strategists of the Joint Board declared
that priority in a two-ocean war must go
first to the defense of vital positions in
the Western Hemisphere — the Panama
Canal and the Caribbean area. From
bases in that region, the U.S. Fleet could
operate in either ocean as the situation
demanded, but its primary obligation
must always be to control the Atlantic
approaches to the Western Hemisphere,
especially to the south where the conti-
nent was most exposed. This task would
not be difficult if Great Britain and
France actively opposed Axis aggression,
but if they did not the security of the
South Atlantic would become the major
concern of U.S. forces. In this situation,
the active co-operation of the Latin
American states was indispensable.

In their studies the planners also con-
sidered the possibility of a war with
Japan alone. The United States would
have to expect to lose all its possessions
west of 180 degrees early in such a war,
which, the planners prophetically pointed
out, might well begin with a Japanese
effort "to damage major fleet units with-

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

out warning," or a surprise attempt "to
block the fleet in Pearl Harbor." It
would be necessary, then, for American
forces to fight their way back across the
Pacific in a series of amphibious opera-
tions using one of four routes: (1) the
Aleutians; (2) Pearl Harbor-Midway-
Luzon; (3) the Marshalls-Carolines-
Marianas-Yap-Pelileu; and (4) Samoa-
New Guinea-Mindanao. The planners
favored the second and third routes and
thought that a combination of the two
would have to be used. The garrisons
in Hawaii, Alaska, and Panama were to
be reinforced, but not the Philippines,
apparently on the assumption that their
loss was certain. The planners were
astute enough to recognize, however,
that "emotionalized opinion rather than
... a reasoned adjustment of operations
to the means at hand" might ultimately
dictate the choice of battleground.

American military forces in 1939
seemed sufficiently strong to accomplish
the minimum tasks required under the
strategic concept proposed by the plan-
ners — defense of U.S. vital interests in
the Western Hemisphere and in the
Atlantic area. After hostilities began,
American forces could be strengthened
sufficiently to defeat the enemy operating
in the Atlantic, even without the aid of
Great Britain and France. If, at the same
time, the United States maintained ade-
quate defensive forces in the Pacific,
Japan could probably be restricted to
the western Pacific. It was even possible,
in such a situation, that the Japanese
leaders might prefer peace with the
United States, hoping thereby to reap a
profit from the war without cost to them-
selves. If, on the other hand, Japan ini-
tiated hostilities and the United States
adopted a position of readiness but re-

frained from an advance to the western
Pacific, the European Axis would prob-
ably not undertake any aggressive adven-
tures in the Western Hemisphere. Thus,
on all accounts, the planners held that a
defensive strategy in the Pacific was
preferable to any other course.

On the basis of their study the joint
planners recommended that a series of
war plans be prepared, each of them to
be applicable to a different situation.
Priority in these plans, they held, must
be given to the defense of the United
States, and this would require safeguard-
ing the security of the Western Hemi-
sphere. To hold firm to these objectives
would be no easy task, the planners rec-
ognized. Not only must strategy be
linked to policy, but it must also take
cognizance of such intangibles as tradi-
tion, the spirit of the nation, and
"emotionalized public opinion."

The pioneering study by the joint
planners in 1939 raised sharply and
dramatically the question of American
policy in the event of concerted aggres-
sion by Germany, Italy, and Japan. By
focusing on the threat to the Caribbean
and South America, the planners chal-
lenged strongly the long-standing orien-
tation of American strategy toward the
Pacific and gave weight to the Army's
arguments against offensive operations
in the western Pacific.

The planners raised another issue that
needed to be resolved before the course
of national policy could be charted. All
the color plans had been based on the
assumption the United States would act
alone. Was this assumption valid in
terms of the international situation and
in the face of a threatening Axis coali-
tion? Should the strategists in drawing
up their plans therefore assume that the

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

United States would have allies? And if
so, who would they be and what would
the United States be expected to do for
them and they for this nation? Like the
Atlantic vs. Pacific issue, this question of
allies involved political matters and
would have to be resolved by the
President himself.

It was perhaps as well that no firm
answers were forthcoming in the spring
of 1939, for the course of events was still
far from clear. The planners recognized
this when they proposed that alternative
plans be prepared to meet different situ-
ations in which the United States would
have to meet the combined threat of
Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Joint
Board, in approving the work of the
planners, accepted this recommendation
and in June 1939 laid down the guide
lines for the development of these war
plans, aptly designated Rainbow to dis-
tinguish them from the color plans. 5

There were ultimately five Rainbow
plans in all, each of them based on a
different situation. The objective of all
was the same — to defend the United
States and the Western Hemisphere from
Axis aggression and penetration, overt
or concealed. In each of the plans the
planners "set forth the specific co-opera-
tion that should be sought from allied
or neutral Democratic Powers, with re-
spect to specific Theaters of Operations
to render our efforts fully effective."
Common to all of the plans was the

"The first directive of the Joint Board was dated
11 May 1939, but on further study was revised and
amended instructions issued on 30 June. Mins, JB
Mtg, 6 May 3g, and 30 June, JB 325, ser. 634; Ltrs,
JB to JPC, 11 May 3g, sub: Joint Army and Navy
Basic War Plans, Rainbow's 1, 2, 3, and 4; JPC to JB,
23 Jun 39, same sub; JB to JPC, 30 Jun 39, same sub.
All in JB 325, ser. 642 and 642—1 .

assumption that the United States would
face a coalition rather than a single
power.

The five specific situations forming
the basis of the five Rainbow plans were
defined by the Joint Board as follows:

Rainbow 1 assumed the United States to
be at war without major allies. United
States forces would act jointly to prevent
the violation of the Monroe Doctrine by
protecting the territory of the Western
Hemisphere north of latitude 1O south,
from which the vital tasks of the United
States might be threatened. The joint tasks
of the Army and Navy included protection
of the United States, its possessions and its
seaborne trade. A strategic defensive was to
be maintained in the Pacific, from behind
the line Alaska-Hawaii-Panama, until de-
velopments for offensive action against
Japan.

Rainbow 2 assumed that the United
States, Great Britain, and France would be
acting in concert, with limited participa-
tion of U.S. forces in continental Europe
and in the Atlantic. The United States
could, therefore, undertake immediate of-
fensive operations across the Pacific to
sustain the interests of democratic powers
by the defeat of enemy forces.

Rainbow 3 assumed the United States
to be at war without major allies. Hemi-
sphere defense was to be assured, as in
Rainbow 1, but with early projection of
U.S. forces from Hawaii into the western
Pacific.

Rainbow 4 assumed the United States to
be at war without major allies, employing
its forces in defense of the whole of the
Western Hemisphere, but also with pro-
vision for United States Army forces to be
sent to the southern part of South America,
and to be used in joint operations in east-
ern Atlantic areas. A strategic defensive,
as in Rainbow 1, was to be maintained in
the Pacific until the situation in the At-
lantic permitted transfer of major naval
forces for an offensive against Japan.

Rainbow 5 assumed the United States,
Great Britain, and France to be acting in

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

concert; hemisphere defense was to be as-
sured as in Rainbow i, with early projec-
tion of U.S. forces to the eastern Atlantic,
and to either or both the African and
European continents; offensive operations
were to be conducted, in concert with
British and allied forces, to effect the de-
feat of Germany and Italy. A strategic
defensive was to be maintained in the
Pacific until success against European Axis
Powers permitted transfer of major forces
to the Pacific for an offensive against
Japan. 6

Of the five plans, Rainbow i was
basic, though most limited. Providing
for the defense of the Western Hemi-
sphere from the bulge of Brazil to
Greenland and as far west as Midway
in the Pacific, it established the necessary
conditions that had to be met before any
of the other plans could be executed.
Rainbow's 2 and 3 called for offensive
operations into the western Pacific, the
former on the assumption that Great
Britain and France would be allies, and
the latter that they would not. In this
respect, Rainbow 3 established virtually
the same conditions as the Orange
plan. Rainbow 4 also assumed that
Great Britain and France would be neu-
tral, presumably as a result of Axis mili-
tary action, and therefore emphasized the
defense of the Western Hemisphere
against external aggression. Emphasis in
this plan as in Rainbow 1 was on limited
action to fend off any Axis threat to the
American republics. In neither Rain-
bow 1 nor 4 were major U.S. forces to
be sent to Europe or to the far Pacific.

The situation envisaged in Rainbow
5 came closer to the conditions of World
War II than any of the others, though

these were not foreseen at the time. Like
Rainbow 2, it assumed the active col-
laboration of Great Britain and France.
But unlike that plan, which called for
the United States to make the major ef-
fort in the Pacific, Rainbow 5 envisaged
the rapid projection of American forces
across the Atlantic to Africa or Europe
"in order to effect the decisive defeat of
Germany, Italy, or both." Clearly im-
plied in this statement was the concept
that finally emerged as the basic strategy
of World War II: that in a war with
the European Axis and Japan, Germany
would be the major enemy and the main
effort would be made in Europe to
secure the decisive defeat of Germany at
the earliest possible date.

The summer of 1939 was one of tense
expectancy. Europe was on the verge of
war and Japan showed no disposition to
abandon aggression in Asia. During
these months, a joint Rainbow 1 plan,
which had first priority, was completed
and the two services hurriedly pushed
forward completion of their own plans
for hemisphere defense. 7

There were important organizational
changes, too, at this time. In an effort
to keep in close touch with his military
advisers, President Roosevelt on 5 July
1 939 placed the Joint Board under his
immediate "supervision and direction."
Up to that time, the board, it will be re-
called, had reported to the two service
Secretaries, under whose authority the
board functioned. It had now a broader
basis, but still sent its recommendations
through the Secretaries, for the President
had no desire to alter existing proce-

•Kittredge, U.S.-British Naval Cooperation, sec.
I, Part D, Notes pp. 42^6; Memo, JPC to JB, 23 Jun
39; Mins, JB Mtg, 30 Jun 39, JB 325, ser. 642.

'Joint War Plan Rainbow 1, JB 325, ser. 642-1.
Approved by the Joint Board on 9 August, by the
Secretary of War and Secretary of Navy on 14 August
ig3g, and by the President orally two months later.

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

General Marshall. (1944 photo.)

Admiral Stark

dures. 8 This change coincided with a
change in the high command. On 1
August, Admiral Harold R. Stark was
appointed Chief of Naval Operations to
succeed Admiral Leahy, and a month
later General George C. Marshall for-
mally succeeded General Malin Craig as
Chief of Staff of the Army after two
months as Acting Chief.

The outbreak of war in Europe early
in September 1939 gave a fresh urgency
to Rainbow planning. Rainbow 2
seemed to fit the situation of the moment
best and while work went forward on the
development of plans, the President took
measures to strengthen the nation's de-
fenses and to keep America out of war
by keeping war away from America.
Immediately on the outbreak of hostil-

8 Mil Order, 5 Jul 39; Memo of Secy JB, 20 Jul 39,
JB 346, ser. 646.

ities he proclaimed the neutrality of the
United States, while ordering the Army
and Navy to bring their strength up to
the full authorized level. On his initia-
tive, the Foreign Ministers of the Amer-
ican Republics met at Panama at the end
of September to proclaim their neutral-
ity and to devise measures for their joint
defense. American security zones were
proclaimed in the western Atlantic and
eastern Pacific, and plans made to patrol
these zones to keep war away from the
Americas.

Throughout the winter of 1939-1940,
the period of the "phony war," the joint
planners sought to develop plans to meet
the Rainbow 2 contingency. The task
proved a formidable one, indeed, for
the range of possibilities was wide.
Moreover, each proposed course of
action in the Pacific had to be co-ordi-

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

nated with that of the Allies. But with-
out specific knowledge of the plans of
their allies, the planners were faced with
many uncertainties. In April 1940,
therefore, they proposed that conversa-
tions should be held with the British,
French, and Dutch "as soon as the diplo-
matic situation permits." By that time,
the Army planners had prepared four
drafts of a proposed Rainbow 2 plan, on
each of which the Navy had commented
in detail. 9

The Critical Summer of 1940

The planners were still trying to solve
the problems posed by Rainbow 2 when
the nature of the war in Europe changed
abruptly in the spring of 1940. Early in
April, German forces invaded Denmark
and Norway and by the end of the month
had occupied both countries. On 10
May, the German campaign against
France opened with the attack on the
Netherlands and Belgium, and four days
later German armor broke through the
French defenses in the Ardennes. At the
end of the month the British began the
evacuation from Dunkerque, and on 10
June, Italy declared war. A week later,
the beaten and disorganized French
Government sued for peace. With
France defeated and England open to
attack and invasion, the threat from the
Atlantic looked real indeed.

Nor was there any consolation to be
found in the situation in Asia. In China,
the Japanese had succeeded in occupy-
ing North China, the coastal area as far
south as Canton, and the principal river
and rail lines. Tokyo diplomats were
speaking of a Japanese "Monroe Doc-

9 The various drafts of Rainbow 2 can be found
in the Army files of the JPC, JB 325, ser. 642-2.

trine," and there was every indication
that Japan intended to exploit the Axis
victories in Europe and take over the
French, British, and Dutch possessions in
Asia and the Southwest Pacific. Only the
United States was in a position to chal-
lenge Japan, and on 10 April 1940 the
Joint Board instructed its planners to
give priority to the development of plans
based on Rainbow's 2 and 3, both of
which called for offensive operations in
the Pacific. 10 That same month, the
Pacific Fleet moved into Hawaiian
waters for maneuvers, and despite the
protests of its commander was kept there
throughout- the spring as a deterrent to
Japanese aggression. Finally in June,
when a Soviet-Japanese pact freed Japan
for further aggression to the south, the
fleet was ordered to remain indefinitely
in Hawaiian waters. So tense was the
situation that on the 17th of the month,
as a result of reports of possible attacks
on Pearl Harbor or Panama Canal, Gen-
eral Marshall sent alerts to the Army
commanders in Hawaii and Panama. 11

In this crisis, American strategy under-
went a critical review. Clearly the
greater danger was in Europe, and Rain-
bow's 2 and 3 with their orientation to-
ward the far Pacific were scarcely appli-
cable. The defeat of France in June and

10 Mins, JB Mtgs, 22 Feb and 10 Apr 1940; JPC to
JB, g Apr 40, sub: Joint War Plans Rainbow, ap-
proved 10 April, JB 325, Ser. 642—1. The priorities
established for Rainbow planning at this time were

1. Complete Rainbow 2.

2. Develop Rainbow 3 as far as the main courses
of action.

3. Develop Rainbow 5 as far as the main courses
of action.

4. Complete Rainbow 3.

5. Complete Rainbow 5.

Rainbow 4 was assigned the lowest priority and no
planning for it was scheduled.

"The alert message is reproduced in Pearl Harbor
Attack Hearings, pt. 15, p. 1594.

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

the possibility that Great Britain might
soon fall outweighed any danger that
Japanese aggression could present to
American security. Calling for an early
decision from higher authority, the
Army planners argued that since the
United States could not fight everywhere
— in the Far East, Europe, Africa, and
South America — it should limit itself to
a single course. Defense of the Western
Hemisphere, they held, should consti-
tute the main effort of American forces.
In any case, the United States should not
become involved with Japan and should
concentrate on meeting the threat of
Axis penetration into South America. 12
The Army's concern about America's
ability to meet a possible threat from an
Axis-dominated Europe in which the
British and French Navies might be em-
ployed against the United States was
shared by the Navy. As a result, the
joint planners began work on Rainbow
4, which only a month earlier had been
accorded the lowest priority, and by the
end of May had completed a plan. The
situation envisaged now in Rainbow 4
was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine
by Germany and Italy coupled with
armed aggression in Asia after the elimi-
nation of British and French forces and
the termination of the war in Europe.
Under these conditions, the United
States was to limit itself to defense of
the entire Western Hemisphere, with
American forces occupying British and
French bases in the western Atlantic. 13

"Memos, WPD for CofS, 22 May 40, sub: National
Strategic Decisions; CofS for WPD, 23 May 40, no
sub; Aide Memoire, Maj Matthew B. Ridgway, 23
May 40. All in WPD 4175-10.

13 Ltr, JPC to JB, 31 May 40, sub: Joint Army and
Navy Basic War Plan Rainbow 4. The Joint Board
approved the plan early in June and the Secretaries

Acceptance by the Joint Board of the
Rainbow 4 plan was the beginning
rather than the end of the comprehen-
sive review of strategy precipitated by
Germany's startling success in Europe.
Still in doubt was the fate of Great
Britain and the French Navy, and Amer-
ican policy depended to a very large
degree on these two unknowns. Posses-
sion of the British and French Fleets
would give the European Axis naval
equality with the U.S. Fleet and make
possible within six months, the time re-
quired to make the captured fleets oper-
ational, hostile Axis operations in the
Western Hemisphere. Since consider-
able time would be required to mobilize,
equip, and train American forces, the
planners asserted that "the date of the
loss of the British or French Fleets
automatically sets the date of our
mobilization." 14

During the dramatic weeks of May
and June 1940, the President met with
his military advisers frequently and dis-
cussed with them every major develop-
ment of the war. On 13 June, shortly
before the fall of France, he called in
the intelligence chiefs of the Army and
Navy for an evaluation of the situation,
posing a number of specific questions.
This request precipitated an interim
review of the various courses of action
open to the United States in the light of
the rapidly changing situation. As the
planners saw it, there were three
alternatives:

1. To maintain a strong position in the
Pacific and to avoid commitment every-
where else.

soon after. It was not approved by the President
until 14 August. Relevant papers are in JB 325, ser.
624-4.

"Joint War Plan Rainbow 4, JB 325, ser. 642—4.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

General Strong

2. To make every effort, including bellig-
erent participation, to sustain Great Britain
and France.

3. To take whatever measures were re-
quired to prevent Axis penetration into the
Western Hemisphere. 15

All three possibilities had already been
considered in one or another of the
Rainbow plans, but, as the planners
pointed out, the essence of the problem
now was time. Rainbow 4 was the best
course to follow in this situation, in
their view, and the end of British or
French resistance, they held, should be
the signal for American mobilization.

On the morning of 17 June, the day
after the planners had submitted their
report, General Marshall discussed the
problem with his immediate assistants.
"Are we not forced," he asked, "into a

question of refraining our national
policy, that is, purely defensive action in
the Pacific, with a main effort on the
Atlantic side? We have to be pre-
pared," Marshall told his staff, "to meet
the worst situation that may develop,
that is, if we do not have the Allied fleet
in the Atlantic." The time had come,
he thought, to mobilize the National
Guard and to discontinue shipments to
England of munitions that would be
needed for American mobilization. 16

On the basis of this discussion, the
Chief of the War Plans Division, Brig.
Gen. George V. Strong, recommended
that same day that the Chief of Staff and
the Chief of Naval Operations propose
to the President as the basic policy of the
United States: first, a purely defensive
position in the Pacific; second, no fur-
ther commitments for material aid to the
Allies; and third, immediate mobiliza-
tion for hemisphere defense. These rec-
ommendations reflected the pessimistic
and strongly conservative outlook of the
Army staff at the time, a view the Army
planner made no effort to conceal. His
proposal, Strong stated frankly, was "a
recognition of the early defeat of the
Allies, an admission of our inability to
furnish means in quantities sufficient to
affect the situation, and an acknowledge-
ment that we recognize the probability
that we are next on the list of Axis

'17

powers. .

General Marshall and Admiral Stark
approved General Strong's recommenda-
tions in principle on 18 June and di-
rected their planners to outline the
measures required "to effect an imme-

"Memo, Sr Army and Navy Members JPC to Dirs
WPD, 16 Jun 40, WPD 4250-3.

"Notes on Conf in OCofS, 17 Jun 40, Misc Confs,
binder 3.

"Memo, WPD for CofS, 17 Jun 40, sub: National
Defense Policy, WPD 4250-3.

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

diate mobilization of national effort for
Hemisphere Defense." The result was
a comprehensive review of national pol-
icy during the latter part of June by the
War and Navy Departments, the State
Department, and the President. With
the study of the questions proposed by
Roosevelt on the 13th, this review fur-
nished an estimate of probable war de-
velopments and outlined the action
required for full-scale mobilization and
for aid to Britain and her allies. Though
never approved by the President, the
conclusion of the planners nevertheless
reflected his views and constituted an
important milestone in the develop-
ment of U.S. strategy for World War
II."

The critical point at issue in the dis-
cussions was the fate of the French Fleet
and the future of Great Britain. Mili-
tary leaders wished to base their plans on
the worst of all possible contingencies —
that England, if not the British Empire,
would be forced out of the war and that
the French and British Fleets would fall
to the Axis. The President, on the other
hand, believed that American action
should be based on the assumption that
Great Britain would remain an active
belligerent and that the military situa-
tion in Europe would not alter appre-
ciably in the next six months. He did
not feel, either, that aid to Britain
should be cut off entirely, and countered
the planner's arguments with the obser-
vation that if a small amount of aid
would see the British through without
seriously retarding American prepara-
tions, then that aid should be furnished.
Nor was the President willing to put
the armed forces on a wartime basis or

"The relevant papers are filed in WPD 4250—3.

to support full mobilization of man-
power and industry. He agreed on the
necessity for defense of the Western
Hemisphere and the protective occupa-
tion of European colonial possessions as
well as other strategic positions in the
Caribbean area and in Central and South
America, but only after consultation and
negotiation with the Latin American
nations concerned.

As a result of these discussions, the
planners recommended that American
policy be based on the following:

1. That the British Empire would
continue to exist in the fall and winter
of 1940, though Great Britain itself
might not remain an active combatant.

2. That France would be occupied by
German forces, and even if the French
in North Africa and elsewhere contin-
ued resistance, U.S. aid would not alter
substantially the French position.

3. That U.S. participation in the war
as an active belligerent could not pre-
vent the defeat of France or of Great
Britain at this time.

This estimate of the situation at the
end of June, which incorporated the
President's views, led the planners to
recommend as the "Basis for Immediate
Decisions Concerning the National De-
fense" a defensive in the Pacific, irre-
spective of the fate of the French Fleet.
But if that fleet did fall into German
hands, the planners recognized they
would have to consider the question of
whether to move the major portion of
the U.S. Fleet to the Atlantic. The plan-
ners thought, too, that the further re :
lease of war materials needed for
American forces would seriously weaken
the United States. But they did not rule
out altogether aid to Britain and stipu-
lated, in accordance with Roosevelt's

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

wishes, that aid would be given "under
certain circumstances." 19

During the summer of 1940, Ameri-
can policy and strategy were shaped in
large measure by President Roosevelt's
conviction that Britain must be en-
couraged to resist and that the British
Fleet must not be permitted to fall to
Germany. In a real sense, therefore,
American strategy was dependent upon
British fortunes. Only "one force," said
Henry Stimson on the day after France's
surrender, "remained between the Nazis
and the Western Hemisphere — the Brit-
ish Fleet." Faced with this "appalling
prospect," the United States would stand
alone if that fleet were lost." 20

Reassurances from the British that
they had no intention of giving up the
fight were gratifying to a President so
closely committed to British support,
but a more objective estimate of Great
Britain's ability to resist invasion and
detailed information on which to base
plans were needed. To fill this need as
well as to see for themselves how the
British were fighting and what they
needed most, the Army and Navy sent
special observers to London in the sum-
mer of 1940 at Mr. Churchill's invita-
tion. The Army observers were General
Strong, Chief of the War Plans Division,
and Maj. Gen. Delos C. Emmons of the
Air Corps. Both would remain for only
a few weeks, but the Navy observer, Rear
Adm. Robert L. Ghormley, was to re-
main in London on extended duty.
Already, the British had appointed their

19 Memo, CofS and CNO for President, 27 Jun 40,
sub: Basis for Immediate Decisions . . . ; see also pre-
liminary studies by the planners, with the President's
comments, in WPT) 4250-3.

M Henry L. Stimson and McGeorge Bundy, On
Active Service in Peace and War (New York: Harper
& Brothers, 1948), pp. 318— ig.

own Admiralty Committee to consider
"naval cooperation with the United
States Navy" in the event of American
entry into the war, and had made clear
to the Americans in a general way how
they intended to fight the war. 21

'With the arrival of the special observ-
ers in London in August 1940, the con-
versations which had been carried on
informally by the Navy since December
1937 were broadened to include Army
representatives and enlarged in scope to
include basic questions of strategy, com-
mand arrangements, and materiel re-
quirements. None of the observers
doubted the determination of the Brit-
ish people to continue their resistance.
In their month in England, Generals
Emmons and Strong were greatly im-
pressed by the coolness and confidence
of the British under attack, and by the
organization, training, and techniques
for defense against air attack. 22 British
faith in the efficacy of air bombardment,
and the independent position of the
Royal Air Force had an effect also on the
two Army observers. Implicit in their
report was a reflection of the British
belief that Germany could be so weak-
ened ultimately by air bombardment as
to make ground operations on the
Continent feasible.

The American observers also learned
much about British strategy for the con-
duct of the war. In broad terms, the
British Chiefs outlined for the Ameri-
cans their policy for the conduct of the
war:

1. The security of the United King-

!1 For a complete account of these developments
and naval conversations, see Kittredge, U.S. -British
Naval Cooperation, sec. Ill, pt. A and B.

"Memo, Emmons and Strong for CofS, 22 Sep 40,
sub: Observations in England, WPD 4368.

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

dom and Imperial possessions and
interests.

2. Command of; the home waters and
the eastern Mediterranean, combined
with an attempt to regain command o£
the entire Mediterranean.

3. An intensified air offensive and
economic pressures against both Germany
and Italy.

4. Development of resources for major
offensive ground operations when
opportunity offered. 23

In the Far East, the British admitted
frankly, their interests would be best
served if the U.S. Fleet remained in the
Pacific. Their original plan had been to
send a naval force to the Far East in the
event of a Japanese attack, but that was
no longer possible. On the other hand,
if Japan came into the war and if the
United States sent a portion of the fleet
into the Atlantic, British surface vessels
from the Home Fleet and the force at
Gibraltar could be sent to the Far East.
"The support of the American battle
fleet," observed the British Chief of the
Air Staff, "would obviously transform
the whole strategical situation in the
Far East."

On the question of American material
aid, the British were equally frank. In
response to a question from Admiral
Ghormley as to whether the British were
relying on economic support and even-
tual co-operation of the United States,
they replied that in the plans for the
future "we were certainly relying on the
continued economic and industrial co-
operation of the United States in ever-
increasing volume." American supply,
they declared, was "fundamental to our
whole strategy." But on the question of

23 Minutes of the meetings with the British are in
WPD 4402-1.

the "eventual active cooperation" of the
United States, the British Chiefs were
somewhat evasive. "No account had
been taken" of this possibility, they told
the Americans, "since this was clearly a
matter of high political policy."

For the British, Germany was clearly
the main enemy and the "mainspring"
of the Axis effort in Europe. Arguing
from this basis, the British insisted that
"whatever action may be necessary
against any other country must, there-
fore, be related to our main object,
which is the defeat of Germany" — a
statement that came very close to the
basic strategic decision of World War II.
And when Admiral Ghormley asked the
British how they expected to defeat
Germany and whether the final issue
would be decided on land, they replied
that "in the long run it was inevitable
that the Army should deliver the coup
de grace." But they hoped that the
Army's task could be made considerably
easier by "a serious weakening in the
morale and fighting efficiency of the
German machine, if not a complete
breakdown." How this would be accom-
plished, the British did not specify, but.
their emphasis on bombardment indi-
cated that air power would certainly play
a leading role in the defeat of Germany.

Shift to the Atlantic, September 1940-
January ig^i

Events in Europe after June 1940
gave hope for a brighter future than had
seemed possible after the German of-
fensive in April and May. The success
of the British in beating off the attacks
of the Luftwaffe and the reports of the
special observers led to a more favorable
program of support for the British war

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

effort and to other measures such as the
transfer of fifty old destroyers in return
for a lease on British air and naval base
sites in British possessions in the west-
ern Atlantic. For the moment, the Axis
threat in Europe seemed to be blunted.

Meanwhile, the situation in the Far
East had taken a turn for the worse. On
22 September, Japanese troops entered
northern Indochina, and five days later
the Japanese Government announced its
adherence to the Rome-Berlin Axis.
Just two days before the signing of the
Tripartite Pact, the Army planners had
completed a report on the ability of the
United States to cope with the problems
presented by the Axis threat. After re-
viewing the possibilities in Europe, the
planners pointed out that the United
States might soon face renewed advances
in the Far East, possibly against the
Netherlands Indies or the Philippines,
but that it would not be possible to op-
pose such moves by a major effort in the
Pacific in view of the greater danger in
the Atlantic. Operations in the Pacific,
they maintained, should be held to the
minimum. 24

There was general agreement in Wash-
ington with this view. The main prob-
lem was how to avoid a conflict with
Japan and at the same time maintain
American interests and defend American
possessions in the Far East. The answer
perhaps lay in Europe, for there was
strong reason to believe that Japan
would take no overt military action
against the United States or Great
Britain until German victory seemed
fissured. This line of reasoning served
to strengthen the view that as long as
Great Britain was in danger, the United

"Memo, WPD for CofS, 25 Sep 40, sub: Problem
of Production . . . , WPD 4321-9.

States should remain on the defensive
in the Pacific. It was also a powerful
argument for continued aid to Britain,
and for opposition to any move that
might risk serious hostilities with the
Japanese.

Early in October, the entire subject
of American policy toward Japan was
reviewed on the highest level in Wash-
ington. Inevitably the question of Brit-
ish co-operation arose. The military
chiefs opposed strong action on the
ground that the British would be unable
to send any forces into the area and that
the United States could not undertake
to assume Allied obligations in the Far
East. Despite the well-known views of
the American staff, the British continued .
their efforts to persuade the Americans
to join the defense of their Far Eastern
possessions by sending naval units to
Singapore. In May 1940, Churchill had
offered to let the Americans use Singa-
pore "in any way convenient" in order,
as he put it, to "keep the Japanese quiet
in the Pacific." On 4 October he tried
again. In a strong personal message to
President Roosevelt discussing the Far
Eastern situation, he asked, "Would it
not be possible for you to send an Amer-
ican Squadron, the bigger the better, to
pay a friendly visit to Singapore? There
they would be welcomed in a perfectly
normal and rightful way." 25

Both Admiral Stark and General Mar-
shall were opposed to the dispatch of an
American naval force to Singapore and
agreed that the greater danger was in
the eastern Atlantic. Secretary Hull also
opposed the move. As he told the Brit-
ish Ambassador, "It will not be wise,

"The message is quoted in Winston S. Churchill,
Their Finest Hour (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Com-
pany, 1949), pp, 497-98.

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

even from the British standpoint, for
two wars to be raging at the same time,
one in the East and the other in the
West. If this country should enter any
war, this would immediately result in
greatly cutting off military supplies to
Great Britain." 26 The move would be
politically inexpedient also, for this was
an election year and Roosevelt was al-
ready in the midst of a campaign for
election to a third term. A military
gesture such as Churchill had proposed
was likely to lose more votes than it
would gain. Thus, on grounds of politi-
cal expediency as well as strategy, the
President turned down Mr. Churchill's
invitation.

Yet developments since the summer
of 1940 had made the need for a closer
co-ordination of British and American
plans increasingly evident. Almost every
important problem faced by the military
planners raised questions that could not
be settled without an intimate knowl-
edge of British capabilities and plans.
But the hectic months of a Presidential
campaign and the uncertainty of the
outcome discouraged any serious effort
to lay the basis for such co-ordination.
By early November, President Roose-
velt's re-election seemed certain and on
the eve of the election Admiral Stark
made the first bid for a firm and clear
statement of American policy that would
provide the basis for co-ordinated U.S.-
British plans. 27 It was the strongest and
most comprehensive analysis thus far of

"Memoirs of Cordell Hull, I, 906.

"Memo, Stark for Secy Navy, 12 Nov 40, no sub.
This is a revision of the original 4 November memo-
randum, no copies of which are in the Army file,
revised to include the Army WPD comments and
sent to the President. All papers relevant to this
memo are filed in WPD 4175—15.

the various courses of action open to the
United States, the military effect of devel-
opments in Europe and Asia, and the
close relationship between British for-
tunes and American policy. Known as
the "Plan Dog" memorandum because
the recommended course of action if the
United States became a belligerent was
contained in paragraph D ("Dog" in
military parlance) , Admiral Stark's study
constitutes perhaps the most important
single document in the development of
World War II strategy.

The central point of Admiral Stark's
analysis was the recognition that Ameri-
can security depended to a very large
extent on the fate of Great Britain. This
note he sounded at the very outset with
the assertion that "if Britain wins deci-
sively against Germany we could win
everywhere; but that if she loses the
problems confronting us would be very
great; and while we might not lose
everywhere, we might, possibly, not win
anywhere." Should the British Empire
collapse, it seemed probable to Stark
that the victorious Axis powers would
seek to expand their control, economi-
cally at first and then politically and
militarily, into the Western Hemisphere.
The military consequences of a British
defeat were so serious for the United
States, Stark declared, that the British
ought to be assisted in every way pos-
sible. He did not believe, either, that
Britain had the manpower or material
resources to conquer Germany alone.
Assistance by powerful allies would be
necessary ultimately, and to be ready for
this eventuality Britain "must not only
continue to maintain the blockade, but
she must also retain intact geographi-
cal positions from which successful land
actions can later be launched."

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

In facing the consequences of close
co-operation with the British, Admiral
Stark boldly raised the possibility — thus
far avoided — of active American partici-
pation in the war. Since Britain could
not herself defeat Germany, the question
was how American resources in men and
supplies could be employed in combina-
tion with the British to achieve this end.
Admiral Ghormley, it will be recalled,
had raised this question with the British
in London in August, asking whether
large-scale ground operations would be
necessary. He had received an affirma-
tive reply from the British then, and
Stark now returned to this point.
Blockade and bombardment, the means
favored by the British, he did not think
would do the job. The only certain
way of defeating Germany was "by mili-
tary success on shore," and for that,
bases close to the European continent
would be required. "I believe," Stark
declared, "that the United States, in
addition to sending naval assistance,
would also need to send large air and
land forces to Europe or Africa, or both,
and to participate strongly in this land
offensive."

Considering the importance of the
Atlantic to American security, Stark
argued strongly against major commit-
ments in the far Pacific that would in-
volve the United States in an all-out
effort against Japan, as envisaged in
Orange. Such a course would have the
effect of drawing resources away from
the Atlantic and cutting down aid to
Britain. Even a limited war against
Japan would require strong reinforce-
ments in the Southwest Pacific and
Southeast Asia to defend British and
Dutch possessions. Also, it might prove
very difficult indeed to prevent a lim-

ited war from becoming unlimited, as
the Japanese later found out. Nor did
Stark see how the defeat of Japan, even
if this could be accomplished, would
contribute materially to the more im-
portant objectives of the defense of the
Western Hemisphere and the continued
existence of the British Empire. To per-
form all the tasks required to achieve
these objectives, the United States could
"do little more in the Pacific than remain
on a strict defensive."

The major alternative courses of ac-
tion open to the United States, as Stark
viewed the possibilities, were four, and
he stated them as questions:

A. Shall our principal military effort be
directed toward hemisphere defense and
security in both oceans? (Similar to
Rainbow's i and 4.)

B. Shall we prepare for a full offensive
against Japan, premised on assistance from
the British and Dutch forces in the Far
East and remain on the strict defensive in
the Atlantic? (Similar to Rainbow 2, or
Rainbow 3 and Orange with allies.)

C. Shall wc plan for sending the strong-
est possible military assistance both to the
British in Europe and to the British, Dutch
and Chinese in the Far East? (In effect, this
would call for an equal effort on two fronts
while defending the Western Hemisphere.)

D. Shall we direct our efforts toward an
eventual strong offensive in the Atlantic as
an ally of the British, and a defensive in the
Pacific? (Similar to Rainbow 5.)

There was no doubt in Admiral
Stark's mind that the alternative out-
lined in paragraph "Dog" would best
serve the national interests. It would
enable the United States to exert all its
effort in a single direction, make pos-
sible the greatest assistance to Britain,
and provide the strongest defense of the
Western Hemisphere. The one great
disadvantage of the Plan Dog, of course,

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

was that it would leave Japan free to
pursue her program of expansion in Asia
and the Southwest Pacific. Therefore the
United States, while making every effort
to avoid war with Japan, should seek to
keep that nation from occupying British
and Dutch possessions in the Far East.

Plan Dog was the course to be fol-
lowed in the event of war — and Stark
seemed to have little doubt that the
United States would soon be involved
in the European conflict. But if war did
not come, or, as he put it "until such
time as the United States should decide
to engage its full forces in war," the best
course to follow would be that outlined
in paragraph A, that is, to build up the
defenses of the Western Hemisphere and
stand ready to fight off a threat in either
ocean.

Admiral Stark also had a program for
carrying out the policy he proposed.
The first step would be to prepare a
joint plan as a guide for Army and Navy
planning, and at least the "skeleton" of
alternative plans for other situations
that might develop. Such plans, how-
ever, would be of limited value, he
pointed out, if there was not a "clear
understanding between the nations in-
volved as to the strength and extent of
the participation which may be expected
in any particular theater. . . ." For this
reason, therefore, Stark recommended
that secret staff talks be initiated with
British military and naval authorities
"to reach agreements and lay down plans
for promoting unity of allied effort
should the United States find it necessary
to enter the war." 28

28 The British had already suggested such conversa-
tions on various occasions. The most recent sug-
gestions were made in October by the British

The reaction of General Marshall and
the Army planners to Plan Dog was en-
tirely favorable. As a matter of fact, the
Army had argued substantially along
these lines in June 1940, when the pros-
pect of an Axis victory in Europe had
seemed so great, and General Marshall
had then asked whether it would not
be advisable to reframe U.S. naval pol-
icy so as to place the main effort in the
Atlantic with "purely defensive action in
the Pacific." 29 Thus, except for minor
comments, the Army planners endorsed
the Stark proposals, which went forward
to the President on 13 November. On
the 18th, the Joint Board instructed its
planning committee to study the ques-
tions raised by Admiral Stark and pre-
pare recommendations for submission to
the President and the two service
Secretaries. 30

The British, who presumably learned
of Plan Dog from 'Admiral Ghormley,
also agreed with Admiral Stark. Since
the plan was based so largely on the need
to maintain the British Empire, this is
not surprising. Churchill thought the
plan "strategically sound" and "highly
adapted to our interests," as indeed it
was, but only because of the identity of
British and American interests. He was
"much encouraged by the American
naval view," and cautioned his staff "to
strengthen the policy of Admiral Stark"

Ambassador to Secretary Hull in Washington, and by
Admiral Sir Dudley Pound to Ghormley in London.

"Notes of Conf. in OCS, 17 Jun 40, sub: Defense
Problems, OCS Misc Confs.

30 Ltr, CofS to JB, 18 Nov 40, sub: National De-
fense Policy for the United States, JB 325, ser. 670;
Memos, WPD for CofS, 13 Nov 40, sub: National
Policy of the U.S.; Secy, Gen Staff for WPD, same
date, no sub; CofS for Secy War, same date, no sub.
All in WPD 4175-15.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

and "not use arguments inconsistent with
it." 31 Apparently the British Chiefs took
this advice seriously for on 23 Novem-
ber Admiral Ghormley reported to Stark
that in the view of the Admiralty, which
he believed to be the view of the British
Government, "the primary objective of
the war is the defeat of Germany and
Italy," and that in case Japan and the
United States should enter the war, U.S.-
British strategy in the Pacific should be
to contain the Japanese and prevent ex-
tension of the operations to the south
and to the Indian Ocean. 32 But the Brit-
ish clung to their faith in Singapore, and
still hoped the United States would send
a naval force there to hold it against the
Japanese.

While arrangements went forward for
conversations with the British, the joint
planners continued their efforts to pro-
duce a statement of national defense
policy based on Admiral Stark's recom-
mendation. If acceptable, this document
was to be submitted for approval to the
President by the Secretaries of State,
War, and Navy, and serve as the basis
for instructions to the American repre-
sentatives in the forthcoming staff con-
versations. On 21 December 1940, the
joint planners completed their work. In
all essential respects, their recommenda-
tions were similar to those of Admiral
Stark. The major objective of U.S.
defense policy, they said, was the secu-
rity of the Western Hemisphere, and
this was to be secured by full co-
operation with the British Common-

wealth. Until forced to enter the war,
the United States should follow the
course advocated in paragraph A of
Stark's memorandum; if forced into war
with Japan, the United States should at
the same time enter the war in the
Atlantic and limit operations in the mid-
Pacific and Far East so as "to permit
prompt movement to the Atlantic of
forces fully adequate to conduct a major
offensive in that ocean." 33 American pol-
icy and strategy, therefore, would be
designed to defeat Germany and her
allies in order to prevent the extension
of Axis influence into the Western Hem-
isphere, while seeking to keep the Japa-
nese from entering the war or from
attacking British and Dutch territory in
the Far East.

The Joint Board approved the work
of its planners on 2 1 December, and the
Secretaries of War and Navy gave their
approval soon after. The original inten-
tion was to have the Secretary of State
join the two service Secretaries in sub-
mitting these recommendations to the
President for his approval as the basis
for future action by all agencies of the
government. But Mr. Hull refused. He
was in general agreement with these pol-
icies, he declared, but was doubtful of
the propriety of "joining in the submis-
sion to the President of a technical mili-
tary statement of the present situation." 34

Arrangements for staff conferences
with the British were completed early
in January 1941, and on the 15th of the
month the British delegation left for the

"Churchill, Their Finest Hour, pp. 690-91. The
quotations are from his message of 22 November
1940 to the First Sea Lord.

a! Ghormley to Stark, 23 Nov 40, quoted in Kitt-
redge, LLS.British Naval Relations, se. Ill pt. D, p.
313, and Notes, app. B. Records of Admiralty
Meeting, 22 Nov 40.

33 Ltr, JPC to JB, 21 Dec 40, sub: National Defense
Policy for the U.S., JB 325, ser. 670. Earlier drafts
and directives are in the same file. See also relevant
papers in WPD 4175-15 and JB 325, ser. 674.

"Memo, Brig Gen Leonard T. Gerow for CofS, 3
Jan 41, sub: Conf with Secy State, WPD 4175-15.

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

United States. There had been prelimi-
nary exchanges of view by cable and a
proposed set of instructions had been
prepared for the American representa-
tives. But the military authorities still
did not have President Roosevelt's
approval of the recommended national
defense policy, which was to constitute
the guide lines for the American dele-
gates. Finally, on 16 January, the Presi-
dent met with his military advisers, the
two Secretaries and the service Chiefs.
Present at the meeting also was the Sec-
retary of State, who, with the others
constituted a group known informally
as the "War Council."

The meeting opened with a considera-
tion of the problems raised by the possi-
bility of simultaneous action by Germany
and Japan against the United States.
The President thought there was only
"one chance in five" of such an attack
but he avoided any commitment on the
basic question of whether to plan for
a major effort in the Atlantic or Pacific.
On one point, though, he left no doubt.
There was to be no curtailment of aid
to Britain, even in the event of a con-
certed attack in the Atlantic and Pacific.
Clearly, the President's major concern
was with Great Britain. In that sense,
he was of the same mind as his chief
military and civilian advisers. He
thought the Navy should be prepared
to convoy shipping in the Atlantic and
continue to patrol the coast. But he was
equally anxious that the Army should
not be committed to any operations until
it was fully prepared, and that American
military policy should be "very conserv-
ative" until its strength had been greatly
increased. In Latin America, the United
States would have to be prepared, the
President declared, to provide forces,

properly trained, to assist the govern-
ments in their resistance to subversive
Axis activity.

The President's view of American pol-
icy in the Pacific coincided closely with
that of the military authorities. There
the United States would stand on the
defensive with the fleet based on Hawaii.
There was to be no naval reinforce-
ment of the Philippines, and the Com-
mander of the Asiatic Fleet, based in
the Philippines, was to have discretion-
ary authority in the event of attack to
withdraw when he thought it necessary.
The choice was his and it would be up
to him to decide whether to sail east
toward Pearl Harbor or south to
Singapore, as the British wished. 35

By the middle of January 1941, the
major lines of American strategy in
World War II had emerged and the re-
election of President Roosevelt assured
a continuation of the policy established
during the critical summer months of
1940. While hoping to achieve his aims
by measures short of war, the President
had publicly stressed during the preced-
ing months America's unreadiness for
war and the danger from Europe and
the Far East. Army and Navy planners
had defined the problem facing the
United States in a series of studies, and
had made plans to meet various situa-
tions which might arise. The most likely
contingency in early 1941 was that the
United States, allied with Great Britain,
might be involved in a two-ocean war
against a combination of Germany, Italy,
and Japan. In such a contingency, it
was generally agreed, the United States
would adopt a defensive role in the
Pacific and make its main effort against

"Memo, CofS for WPD, 17 Jan 41, sub: White
House ConE of 16 Jan 41, WPD 4175—18.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

the most powerful and dangerous enemy,
Germany. But before firm plans could
be made, it was first necessary to reach
agreement with Great Britain on the
broad aims of the war and the major
outlines of strategy.

RAINBOW 3

During the first three weeks of Janu-
ary 1941 the planners of the Joint Board
completed their arrangements for the
American- British staff conference. On
2 1 January, they submitted to the board
a proposed agenda for the meetings and
a statement of the American position.
The meetings were to be nonpolitical;
no specific commitments were to be made
"except as to technical method of coop-
eration," and agreements reached would
be subject to approval by the two gov-
ernments. Within this framework, the
delegates were to determine the best
methods by which the forces of both
nations could defeat Germany and its
allies should the United States be "com-
pelled to resort to war" — a phrase intro-
duced by the President; reach agreement
on the methods and nature of military
co-operation; and co-ordinate plans for
the use of their forces.

As a guide for the delegates, American
national objectives were defined in vir-
tually the same terms used by Admiral
Stark: (1) protection of the Western
Hemisphere against military or political
encroachment by any other power; (2)
aid to the British Commonwealth; (3)
opposition by diplomatic means to Japa-
nese expansion. In the event of war, the
"broad military objective" of the United
States and Britain would be the defeat
of Germany, which would be "most effec-
tively attained" by placing the principal

military effort in the Atlantic, or "naval-
ly in the Mediterranean" — another Pres-
idential phrase. In the way of practical
advice in negotiating with the British,
the delegates were to keep the following
in mind:

It is believed that we cannot afford, nor
do we need, to entrust our national future
to British direction. . . .

United States Army and Navy officials
are in rather general agreement that Great
Britain cannot encompass the defeat of Ger-
many unless the United States provides that
nation with direct military assistance. . . .

It is to be expected, that proposals of the
British representatives will have been drawn
up with chief regard for the support of the
British Commonwealth. Never absent from
British minds are their postwar interests,
commercial and military. We should like-
wise safeguard our own eventual interests. 36

The Joint Board gave its approval to
these instructions and procedures on 22
January, submitting them in turn to the
Secretaries of War and the Navy with
the suggestion that the statement defin-
ing the military position and strategy
governing the action of U.S. forces be
approved by the President. As a result
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox per-
sonally submitted the report to the Presi-
ident on the 23d and three days later
Roosevelt approved it with minor
changes in wording. 37

The American-British staff conversa-
tions opened in Washington on 29 Janu-
ary 1 94 1 and continued through fourteen
sessions to 29 March, when the dele-

88 JPC to JB, 21 Jan 41, sub: Joint Instr for Army
and Navy Representatives . . . , JB 325, ser. 674. The
Presidential changes were made on 26 January; see
note 37.

"Memo, FDR for Secy Navy, 26 Jan 41, JB 325,
Ser. 674; Mins, JB Mtg, 22 Jan 41.

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

gates submitted a final report, commonly
known as ABC-i . 3S

At the outset, the British stated their
position clearly and fully:

i . The European Theater is the vital the-
ater where a decision must first be sought.

2. The general policy should therefore
be to defeat Germany and Italy first, and
then deal with Japan.

3. The security of the Far Eastern posi-
tion, including Australia and New Zealand,
is essential to the cohesion of the British
Commonwealth and to the maintenance of
its war effort. Singapore is the key to the
defense of these interests and its retention
must be assured.

In line with this strategy, U.S. naval
forces, after appropriate dispositions for
defense of the Western Hemisphere,
should be employed mainly in the Atlan-
tic and Mediterranean, the British stated.
But they also declared that the United
States should maintain in the Pacific a
fleet large enough to prevent the Japa-
nese from prejudicing the main effort in
the Atlantic.

There was no disagreement between
the Americans and the British on the
first two points. Both sides were agreed
that Germany was the main enemy and
the first objective of the allies. They
agreed further that the Atlantic would
be the decisive theater of the war and
the principal effort of the two nations
would be made there. The delegates
also recognized the legitimate interests
of each side, an indispensable basis for
co-operation. On the American side, the
security of the United States and the
defense of the Western Hemisphere were

M Papers relating to the meeting are located in
OPD Exec Files, item 11, Exec 4 and WPD 4402—1
passim. The report itselE is found in several files, but
is available in printed form in Pearl Harbor Attack
Hearings, exhibit 49, pt. 15, pp. 1485-1542.

considered of paramount interest, with
first call on American forces. British
interests were broader, encompassing the
security of the British Commonwealth
of Nations. "A cardinal feature of British
strategic policy," the delegates agreed,
"is the retention of a position in the Far
East such as will insure cohesion and
security of the British Commonwealth
and the maintenance of its war effort."

The third point of British strategy, the
importance of Singapore, involved the
whole question of Far Eastern strategy.
On this, there was a fundamental dis-
agreement between the British and
American delegates. This disagreement
stemmed partly from different national
interests. The British had to deal with
problems of imperial security, and in
their view Singapore was essential to the
defense of India, Australia, and New
Zealand. American interests in the Far
East, though substantial, were not as
vital. The only American possession of
importance in the area, the Philippines,
had virtually been written off as
indefensible in a war with Japan.

There was a basic difference in out-
look also between the British and Amer-
icans. Reflecting their insular position
and long tradition in wars against Con-
tinental powers, the British placed their
main emphasis on sea and air power
rather than large-scale ground forces.
The reduction of Germany by these
means would be a slow process, but the
British were accustomed to long wars
and had no doubt of ultimate victory.
The final blow, they expected, would
be delivered by ground armies, but to
prepare for that eventuality they would
first secure or regain the strategic posi-
tions required for the offensive — Singa-
pore, the Mediterranean — and then con-

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

centrate on weakening the enemy's war
machine. Victory with minimum losses
and minimum risks, exploitation of supe-
rior naval power, and avoidance of large-
scale continental operations — that was
the classic British strategy.

The Americans, conscious of their
overwhelming material resources and
unwilling to face the prospects of a
long war, wished to concentrate all their
power at the earliest possible moment
against the main enemy. To achieve
this aim and end the war quickly with
fewer casualties in the long run, they
were willing to face the temporary loss
of strategic positions like the Philippines
and to risk substantial casualties initially
rather than disperse their forces or adopt
a purely defensive or delaying strategy.

These differences emerged sharply in
the discussions over Singapore. What
the British were asking the Americans
to do was to underwrite the defense of
the Empire and incorporate, as a central
feature of Allied strategy, the British
concept of the importance of Singapore
as the key to defense of the Far East,
even at the expense of concentrating for
a decisive blow against Germany at the
earliest possible date. Though the
Americans appreciated the political, eco-
nomic, and symbolic significance of Sin-
gapore for the British Empire, they
doubted its strategic value and the wis-
dom of underwriting its defense. To
accept the British proposal would not
only have been contrary to their instruc-
tions but would constitute, the Ameri-
can delegates believed, "a strategic error
of incalculable magnitude." 39 They
therefore refused to budge from the posi-
tion that the British must look after

"Memo, Army Delegates for CofS, 12 Feb 41, sub:
Dispatch of U.S. Forces to Singapore, WPD 4402-3.

their own special interests, as the United
States would look after its own in the
Philippines, and that the two nations
should act together where their interests
coincided — in the North Atlantic and
the British Isles.

The report submitted by the Ameri-
can and British delegates laid down the
basic guide lines of Allied co-operation
in World War II. It defined clearly the
policies, the "paramount interests" of
both countries, and the general strategic
concepts designed to support these poli-
cies. Among the major strategic objec-
tives accepted by both sides were the
following:

1. The early defeat of Germany as
the predominant member of the Axis,
with the principal military effort of the
United States being exerted in the Atlan-
tic and European area, the decisive thea-
ter. Operations in other theaters to be
conducted in such a manner as to
facilitate the main effort.

2. The maintenance of British and
Allied positions in the Mediterranean
area.

3. A strategic defensive in the Far
East, with the U.S. Fleet employed offen-
sively "in the manner best calculated to
weaken Japanese economic power, and
to support the defense of the Malay
Barrier by directing Japanese strength
away from Malaysia."

To secure these objectives, the dele-
gates agreed on a number of specific
measures, including economic pressure,
a sustained air offensive against German
military power, the early elimination of
Italy from the war, raids and minor
offensives at every opportunity, and the
support of resistance movements in Axis-
dominated countries. All these would
be preparatory to the final offensive

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

against Germany. For that it would be
necessary to secure bases in the Medi-
terranean and on the west and north-
west shores of Europe, and to gather
"maximum land forces, composed large-
ly of mobile armored divisions" to defeat
and destroy the German Army.

The agreements reached between the
American and British staffs and embod-
ied in ABC-i were not intended to be
binding on the two nations or to have
any political or official character, but
only to determine the way in which the
United States and the British Common-
wealth could defeat Germany "should
the United States be compelled to resort
to war." From the start it was under-
stood that conclusions reached by the
conferees would have to be confirmed by
the Chiefs of Staff of both nations and
were contingent upon political agree-
ments by the two governments. In line
with this understanding, General Mar-
shall and Admiral Stark gave their ten-
tative approval to the report and advised
the British Chiefs that they would pre-
sent it to the President for approval at
an appropriate time. 40 At the same time,
the Joint Board issued a new directive
for the preparation of Rainbow 5, the
situation most closely meeting the
requirements laid down in ABC-i.

Work on Rainbow 5 had been ini-
tiated originally in May 1940, after the
German offensive in the west but before
the fall of France. The situation envis-
aged then in Rainbow 5 was a war in
which the United States, allied with
Great Britain and France, would pro-
ject its armed forces "to either or both

"Ltr, CofS and CNO to Special Army and Navy
Observers in London, 4 Apr 41, sub: Tentative Ap-
proval of ABC— 1, WPD 4402-18. See notation on
Copy 98, Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 15, 1485.

of the African and European continents
as rapidly as possible" to accomplish the
decisive defeat of Germany. The plan-
ning done in May on this basis was
rendered obsolete within a month by
the fall of France. Moreover, it seemed
doubtful at the time that Great Britain
would survive, and the planners turned
their efforts to other Rainbow situations
— first Rainbow 4 (hemisphere defense) ,
and then Rainbow 3 (United States
alone in a major effort against Japan) .
By the end of 1940, when it appeared
that Britain would survive and a revised
Rainbow 5 situation was the most likely
contingency for which to plan, arrange-
ments were already under way for the
American-British staff conversations.

Once the Chief of Staff and Chief of
Naval Operations had given their
approval to ABC-i, work on Rainbow
5 progressed rapidly. By 30 April, the
Army and Navy had agreed on a joint
plan and on that date submitted their
work to the Joint Board. For the pur-
poses of this plan, the Allies — Associated
Powers, they were called — were assumed
to be the United States, the British Com-
monwealth (less Eire) , the Netherlands
Indies, Greece, Yugoslavia, China, the
Governments-in-Exile, and the Free
French; the Axis nations, Germany,
Italy, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and
possibly Japan and Thailand. These
last two, even if they were not in the
war initially, were potential enemies and
the possibility of their intervention was
therefore taken into account in the
plan. 41

Rainbow 5 was virtually identical
with ABC-i. As a matter of fact, one
of the first assumptions of the plan was

■"Ltr, JPC to JB, 30 Apr 41, sub: Joint Basic War
Plan Rainbow 5, incl A, JB 325, ser. 642-5.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

that the Allies would conduct the war
"in accord with ABC-i." Thus, the
strategic concepts, supporting measures,
and missions enumerated in ABC-i were
repeated almost verbatim in Rainbow 5.
For the U.S. Army, "the primary imme-
diate effort" would be to build up large
land and air forces "for major offensive
operations against the Axis powers" and
other operations were to be restricted to
those that would "not materially delay
this effort," Just what these operations
would consist of was not specified, al-
though reference was made, as in ABC-i,
to a large-scale attack by ground forces
against Germany and to the capture of
bases from which to launch such an
offensive. As one of the Army planners
explained at the time, " a plan must
be formulated upon a situation and no
prediction of the situation which will
exist when such a plan can be
implemented should be made." 42

Rainbow 5 was neither a blueprint
for victory nor a plan of operations. It
merely outlined the objectives and mis-
sions of American forces in case of war
on the basis of assumptions that seemed
sound at the time. Specific plans to
achieve these objectives were still to be
made. The first step was to secure
authority to proceed.

Joint Board authority came on 14 May
when the board formally approved both
Rainbow 5 and ABC-i, which it had
tentatively approved early in April.
Approval by the Secretaries came on 28
May (Navy) and 2 June (Army) , at
which time both plans went to the Presi-
dent, with the explanation that the Brit-

ish Chiefs of Staff had approved ABC-i
provisionally and submitted it to their
government for approval. The President
apparently read the two documents care-
fully but withheld approval of ABC-i
on the ground that the British had not
yet approved it. Nor would he approve
Rainbow 5, presumably because it was
based on ABC-i, that is, on arrange-
ments with the British which had not
yet been accepted by that government.
He did request, however, that "in case
of war" the two plans be returned to
him for his approval. 43

The President's ambiguous response
to the carefully worked out arrange-
ments with the British, and to the Amer-
ican plans based on these arrangements,
raised the question of whether the Army
and Navy were authorized to proceed
with their own planning for war on a
Rainbow 5 contingency. This question
was resolved on 10 June at a meeting
in Mr. Stimson's office. General Mar-
shall's view was that since the President
had not disapproved the plan, the Army
could proceed with its own arrange-
ments. This seemed reasonable, and it
was on that basis that the services pro-
ceeded to make detailed plans for the
employment of their forces. 44

By the middle of 1941 American pol-
icy and military strategy had subordi-
nated the Pacific to a secondary position,
while maintaining that the United States
would defend its overseas possessions and
its interests in the Far East. The danger
of war with Japan was a real one, but

42 Memo, WPD for CofS (May 1941), sub: Analy-
sis of Plans for Overseas Expeditions, cited in Mat-
loff and Sncll, Strategic Planning 1941—1942, pp.

45-46.

"Mins, JB Mtg, 14 May. The correspondence
relating to the approval by the Secretaries and the
statement recording the President's reaction are filed
in JB 325, ser. 642-5.

"Mins, Conf Office, Secy War, 10 Tun 41, WDCSA,
Secy of War Confs, I.

EUROPE VERSUS THE PACIFIC

in the face of the greater threat from
Germany it had been decided to place
the main effort in the Atlantic and to
restrain Japan by political and economic
means. If Japan did attack, the United
States would have to limit itself to the
defense of that area in the Pacific vital
to its security, Alaska-Hawaii-Panama,
and accept the loss of the Philippines,
Wake, and Guam. But there were some
who still believed that the Philippines
could and should be reinforced and that
the obligation of the United States to
the Filipinos and its position in the Far
East transcended the logic of the military
strategists.

The circumstances under which a war
with Japan would begin were not yet
known and, except for local defense
plans, there was no settled solution on
a plan to defeat Japan. The general
pattern of the war and the courses of
action open to American forces had been
fixed over a long period of time. That

the fleet would advance step by step
across the Pacific through the Mandated
Islands, specifically the Marshalls and
the Carolines, to the Philippines, and
that it would then seek to establish
supremacy in the western Pacific was
well understood and accepted. But be-
yond the general statement that Japan
would be brought to her knees by eco-
nomic pressure, blockade, and air bom-
bardment, there was no specific plan for
operations to defeat the enemy. More-
over, though it was assumed that Brit-
ish, Dutch, and Chinese forces would
fight the common enemy, there were
no plans for concerted action and there
was still disagreement between the Amer-
ican and British planners over the role
of Singapore. There was much still to
be done — forces to be raised, weapons
produced, and plans written. Until then,
the United States would have to restrain
an increasingly aggressive Japan by all
means short of war.

CHAPTER IV

The Fatal Turn

Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their
execution, determined to find a glorious end.

Clausewitz

The summer of 1941 was a crucial one
for both Japan and the United States.
Over a period of several years American
planners had devised a strategy designed
to protect the Western Hemisphere
against Axis aggression and, if the United
States was forced into war, to throw the
bulk of its resources against Germany.
But this strategy assumed, first, that
Japan could be deterred from aggression
by means short of war, and second, that
in the event hostilities in the Far East
could not be avoided, the United States
would accept the loss of American terri-
tory in that area. The planners, unwill-
ing to face the unpleasant prospect of
large-scale military operations in the
western Pacific, accepted these assump-
tions. But there were many, including
the President and his Secretary of War,
who found the conclusions of military
logic distasteful and sought a way out
of the dilemma. The solution provided
by the advocates of air power turned
American eyes once more to the Far
East.

The crisis facing the Japanese leaders
was more serious. In their view the very
existence of the nation depended on
their decisions. There seemed to be no
way to end the war in China and eco-
nomic restrictions were crippling their

efforts to stockpile strategic materials
and prepare the nation for any eventu-
ality. Japan was truly at the crossroad.

The July Crisis

Negotiations to settle the issues
between Japan and the United States
had been in progress since February 1941
when Ambassador Nomura had arrived
in Washington. By summer, little prog-
ress had been made. The American posi-
tion had been denned early in the
conversations by Mr. Hull:

(1) Respect for the territorial integ-
rity and the sovereignty of each and all
nations.

(2) Support of the principle of non-
interference in the internal affairs of
other countries.

(3) Support of the principle of equal-
ity, including equality of commercial
opportunity.

(4) Nondisturbance of the status quo
in the Pacific except as the status quo
may be altered by peaceful means.

But so long as the Japanese persisted in
pursuing an aggressive policy in China
and in southeast Asia there was not, in
Mr. Hull's words, "one chance in twenty
or one in fifty or even one in one hun-

THE FATAL TURN

dred of reaching a peaceful settlement." 1
In the year since Prince Konoye had
become Premier (16 July 1940) , the
Japanese had achieved two of the four
objectives outlined in the "General Prin-
ciples." 2 The Tripartite Pact had been
signed on 27 September 1940, and a neu-
trality pact concluded with Russia on
13 April 1941. Expansion by diplomacy
had failed everywhere, except in Thai-
land. By agreement with Vichy France,
Japan had obtained the right to mili-
tary occupation of Tonkin Province and
the use of air bases and military facili-
ties in northern Indochina. But the
Dutch, backed by the Americans and
British, had stubbornly resisted Japanese
efforts to gain economic concessions, and
the Chinese showed no disposition to
lay down their arms and accept Japanese
terms for a settlement.

The German invasion of the Soviet
Union on 22 June 1941 had a profound
effect on the international situation and
led the Japanese to re-examine the pol-
icy established only a year earlier. There
was much heated discussion among Japa-
nese political and military leaders of the
probable effect of the Russo-German
war, discussions which the Americans
learned about through the medium of

1 Pearl Harbor Attack: Report of the Joint Com-
mittee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor
Attack, Doc. 244, 79th Cong., 2d sess. (hereafter
cited as Pearl Harbor Report), p. 394. Unless
otherwise noted this section is based on the Pearl
Harbor Report; Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt.
20, Memoirs of Prince Konoye; IMTFE, Judgment,
pp. 924-35; Department of State, Foreign Relations
of the United States, Japan, II, 342, 527-38, 549—55;
Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War, pt. IV,
Japanese Studies in World War II, 150. The most
detailed accounts in secondary sources are Langer
and Cleason, The Undeclared War, and, on the
Japanese sid e, Feis, The Road to Pearl Harbor,

1 See above ["ch. II.|

Magic 3 and which President Roosevelt
characterized as "a real drag-down and
knock-out fight ... to decide which way
they are going to jump — attack Russia,
attack the South Seas . . . [or] sit on the
fence and be more friendly with us."
Foreign Minister Matsuoka favored the
first course, the Army the second, and
Premier Konoye inclined toward the
third course. Finally, on 2 July 1941,
an Imperial Conference, consisting of
the chief members of the government
and the armed forces meeting with the
Emperor, made the final decision on
Japan's future course. 4

The question of a Soviet attack was
put to rest by the Imperial Conference
which decided that, regardless of any
change in the international situation,
Japan would adhere to the Tripartite
Pact and to its plan for expansion to
the south. If a favorable opportunity
arose to take advantage of the war
between Germany and the Soviet Union,
Japan, would be ready to do so. The
negotiations with the United States were
to be continued while preparations to
place the nation on a war basis and
strengthen its defenses were to be pushed
forward with vigor. Also, steps were to
be taken to bring about Chiang's sur-
render, and plans for the domination
of Thailand and Indochina were to be
executed immediately. "We will not be
deterred," the Imperial Conference
decreed, "by the possibility of being
involved in a war with England and
America."

"Code name given to the interception and decoding
of the Japanese messages.

*Ltr, Roosevelt to Harold L. Ickes, i Jul 41, cited
in Langer and Gleason, The Undeclared War, p.
646. The 2 July decision is included among IMTFE
Exhibits, 588. See also Ltr, Grew to author, 19 Jun
49, OCMH.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The problems posed by Germany's
attack on the Soviet Union were hardly
settled and the decision made to abide
by the Tripartite Pact and continue the
drive southward when a new crisis arose.
Still unanswered was the note Hull had
handed Nomura on 21 June, asking for
some clear indication of a genuine desire
for peace and making allusions to the
pro-German attitude of certain mem-
bers of the Japanese Government.
Matsuoka, the foremost advocate of the
alliance with Germany, insisted on an
outright rejection of the note and the
termination of the talks. Premier Konoye,
fearful that a flat rejection would end
the negotiations, wished to reply with
counterproposals already prepared by
the Army and Navy. Matsuoka would
not budge from his position and Konoye,
given the nod by Tojo and after consul-
tation with the Emperor, moved to oust
the pro-German Foreign Minister. First,
on 16 July, he submitted the resignation
of the entire Cabinet to the Emperor.
Two days later he received the Imperial
mandate to form a new Cabinet. This
he did by selecting the same ministers
as before except for Matsuoka, whom
he replaced with Admiral Toyoda. The
Japanese could now go ahead with the
program outlined at the Imperial
Conference of 2 July.

The first move of the new government
was the virtual occupation of French
Indochina. Protesting that Indochina
was being encircled, Japan issued what
was in effect an ultimatum to the Vichy
Government on 19 July. On the 24th,
Roosevelt offered to guarantee to the
Japanese equal access to the raw mate-
rials and food of Indochina in return
for the neutralization of that country
Nothing came of the proposal. The fol-

lowing day Japanese troops moved into
the southern portion of Indochina. Japan
now possessed strategically located air
and naval bases from which to launch at-
tacks on Singapore, the Philippines, and
the Netherlands Indies.

Although the French acquiesced in
this raid on their empire, the United
States was not so obliging. In the view
of the State Department, this fresh Japa-
nese aggression constituted a threat to
American interests in the Far East and
justified the imposition of additional
economic restrictions, then being con-
sidered by the President, as a warning to
Japan. These restrictions were finally
put into effect on 26 July when the Presi-
dent issued an order freezing Japanese
assets in the United States. Since Japan
no longer had the dollars with which to
purchase the urgently needed materials
of war, the effect of this measure, which
the British and Dutch supported, was to
create an economic blockade of Japan.
The "obvious conclusion" of the "vi-
cious circle of reprisal and counterre-
prisal," wrote Ambassador Grew, "is
eventual war," and Admiral Stark took
so serious a view of the situation that he
warned Admiral Thomas C. Hart, com-
mander of the Asiatic Fleet, on the 25th,
to take "appropriate precautionary meas-
ures against possible eventualities." 5

The sharp American and British re-
action to their move into Indochina

"Rad, CNO to CINCAF, 25 Jul 41, in Pearl Harbor
Attack Hearings, pt. 14, pp. 1400-1401; Grew Diary,
July 1941, cited in Langer and Gleason, The Unde-
clared War, p. 654. Admiral Stark opposed a total
embargo on oil at this time, but did favor a partial
embargo that would provide Japan with enough for
essential peacetime needs, but none for military pur-
poses. Ltr, Stark to Col Warren G. Hoover, Actg
Chief of Mil Hist, 5 Aug 59, OCMH.

THE FATAL TURN

General Suzuki, president of the Japa-
nese Planning Board, 1941.

came as a surprise to the Japanese and
precipitated an intensive review of the
nation's readiness to wage war. The pic-
ture was not encouraging. The power-
ful Planning Board which co-ordinated
the vast, complex structure of Japan's
war economy found the country's re-
sources meager and only enough, in
view of the recent action of the United
States, for a quick, decisive war to gain
the riches of the Southern Area. "If the
present condition is left' unchecked,"
asserted Teiichi Suzuki, president of the
board, "Japan will find herself totally
exhausted and unable to rise in the
future." The blockade, he believed,
would bring about Japan's collapse with-
in two years, and he urged that a final
decision on war or peace be made

"without hesitation." 6 The Navy's view
was equally gloomy. There was only
enough oil, Admiral Nagano told the
Emperor, to maintain the fleet under
war conditions for one and a half years
and he was doubtful that Japan could
win a "sweeping victory" in that time.
His advice, therefore, was that every
effort should be made to reach a peace-
ful settlement with the United States.

By the middle of August the two serv-
ices had agreed on a broad line of strat-
egy. The impetus came from a series of
studies presented by the Total War Re-
search Institute, a subordinate body of
the Cabinet. 7 Forecasting the course of
events during the next six months, the
institute called for the invasion of the
Netherlands Indies in November, fol-
lowed the next month by surprise
attacks on British and American posses-
sions in the Far East. Anticipating that
the United States and Great Britain
would utilize Soviet bases in a war
against Japan, the institute predicted
that Russia, too, would become involved
in the war, probably between April and
October 1942. The bulk of the insti-
tute's studies, however, dealt with the
problems of economic mobilization; mil-
itary planning, except in the most gen-
eral sense, was left to the services. 8

These studies, as well as others, were
used as reference material by the Gen-
eral Staffs in developing their own plans
during the tense days that followed the
embargo. From these discussions
emerged four alternative lines of strat-

•Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War, pt.
IV, Japanese Studies in World War II, 150, pp. 73—77.

'This group was established in October 1940 to
conduct research into wartime measures, in co-opera-
tion with the Planning Board.

"IMTFE, exhibits 870, 870-A, and 871.

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Admiral Nagano

egy, all of them designed to accomplish
the swift destruction of Allied forces in
the Far East and the early seizure of the
Netherlands Indies. The first was based
on the institute's studies and provided
for the seizure of the Indies and then
of the Philippines and Malaya. The
second called for a step-by-step advance
from the Philippines to Borneo, then
Java, Sumatra, and Malaya. The re-
verse, from Malaya to the Philippines,
constituted a third line of action and one
which would have the advantage of de-
laying attack against American territory.
The fourth plan proposed at this time
consisted of simultaneous attacks against
the Philippines and Malaya followed by
a rapid advance along both axes to the
Indies. Admiral Yamamoto's plan for
an attack against Pearl Harbor, work on
which had begun in January, did not

enter into the calculations of the plan-
ners at this time.

Army and Navy planners agreed that
the first plan was too risky for it would
leave Japanese forces exposed to attack
from the Philippines and Malaya. The
Navy preferred the second plan; it was
safe, provided for a step-by-step advance,
and created no serious problems. The
Army objected to it, however, on the
ground that by the time the main ob-
jectives in the Netherlands Indies and
Malaya were reached the enemy would
have had time to strengthen his defenses.
The third plan, with its early seizure of
Malaya and bypassing of the Philippines,
appealed greatly to the Army planners,
who hoped in this way to gain Southeast
Asia and delay American entry into the
war. But this course, as the Navy pointed
out, also placed American naval and air
forces in the Philippines in a strategic
position athwart Japan's line of com-
munication and constituted a risk of the
utmost magnitude. The fourth course,
simultaneous attacks and advance along
two axes, created serious problems of
co-ordination and timing and a danger-
ous dispersion of forces. But because it
was the only course which compromised
the views of both groups, it was finally
adopted. For the first time the Japanese
had a strategic plan for offensive opera-
tions designed to achieve the goals of
national policy against a coalition of
enemies. 9

America Faces the Far East

By mid- August 1941, American mili-
tary strategy for the Pacific and Far

"Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War, pt.
IV, Japanese Studies in World War II, 150, pp. 9—10.

rfilE FATAL TURN

East — which reflected the determination
to avoid war with Japan and to remain
on the defensive even if it meant the loss
of the Philippines, Guam, and Wake —
no longer reflected the policy of the
U.S. Government. There had been
signs even before Rainbow 5 was com-
pleted that American policy toward
Japan was stiffening. The President's
action in May making China eligible for
lend-lease had marked the beginning of
a shift in Far Eastern policy. Though
it proved difficult to find any munitions
to furnish China because early plans for
lend-lease had been made entirely in
terms of aid to Britain, by July the prin-
ciple of arming a compact Chinese Army
and Air Force with American weapons
had been accepted with all the implica-
tions this had for relations with the
Japanese. In addition, a mission under
Brig. Gen. John Magruder was dis-
patched to China to aid in delivery of
materials over the Burma Road and to
assist the Chinese both in using the
materials received and in placing orders
properly. Magruder did not, however,
have authority to discuss military plans
with the Chinese, nor was he told what
he should do if war broke out between
the United States and Japan. 10

The order of 26 July freezing Japa-
nese assets in the United States and
establishing a de facto oil embargo gave
further confirmation of America's stif-
fening policy toward Japan. The plan-
ners had objected to the move on the

'"Rpt, JPC to JB, Aircraft Rqmts for Chinese
Govt, 9 Jul 41, JB 355, sen 6gi; U.S. Mil Mission to
China, 13 Sep 41, JB 354, ser. 716; Mins, JB Mtg, 12
Jul 41. For a full account of prewar policy toward
China, see Riley Sunderland and Charles F. Ro-
manus, Stilwell's Mission to China, UNITED
STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II (Washington,
1953), ch. I.

ground that it might force Japan into
war to gain the oil it so badly needed
and thus imperil American interests in
the Atlantic. 11 The President believed
too, as he had written Secretary of the
Interior Harold L. Ickes earlier in the
month, that "it is terribly important for
the control of the Atlantic for us to help
to keep peace in the Pacific," but felt,
after the German attack on the Soviet
Union had in effect lessened the imme-
diate danger in the Atlantic and freed
Japan to move south, that the United
States could take a stronger stand in the
Pacific. 12 This conviction, shared by
Stimson and others, was a basic factor
in the decisions made during the months
before Pearl Harbor.

A strong policy called for larger forces
and for a revision of military plans.
These were not long in coming. On
the same day the oil embargo was im-
posed, General MacArthur, since 1936
the Military Adviser of the Philippine
Commonwealth and architect of the
Philippine Army, was recalled to active
duty and given command of all U.S.
Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) .
At the same time, by executive order,
the Philippine Army was called into the
service of the United States. 13 But it was
the Rainbow strategy and not the Presi-
dent's desire to strengthen American de-
fenses that dictated the instructions sent
to MacArthur. Except for approximately
400 reserve officers to assist in training

"Memo, Turner for Stark, 19 Jul 41, sub: Study of
Effect of Embargo . . . , Pearl Harbor Attack Hear-
ings, pt. 5, pp. 2382-84.

"Ltr, Roosevelt to Ickcs, 1 Jul 41, cited in Langer
and Gleason, The Undeclared War, p. 646.

18 For an account of these measures, and of the
reinforcement of the Philippines whic h follow ed.
see Morton, The Fall of the Philippines, \chs. II l and

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

the Philippine Army, he was told, he
would not receive any reinforcements.

On the last day of July, only two days
after he had told MacArthur not to ex-
pect any reinforcements, Marshall radi-
cally altered the Army position "to go
to no further expense for permanent
improvements unless savings will re-
sult." American policy, he told his staff,
was to defend the Philippines, and pre-
sumably to reinforce them, but not to
such an extent as to "jeopardize the suc-
cess of the major efforts made in the
theater of the Atlantic." 14 This scarcely
constituted a reversal of the Rainbow 5
strategy, but it did justify approval of a
proposal to reinforce the Philippines
with guns, tanks, and ammunition.

This shift was not as sudden as it ap-
peared. There had been earlier pro-
posals to reinforce the Philippines, most
of which had been rejected only because
of a lack of funds. The previous year
President Manuel Quezon, with the sup-
port of the Philippine Department com-
mander, had sought to secure additional
money for Philippine defense by using
the sugar excise funds — a project which
required Congressional approval — and
early in 1941 the strength of the Philip-
pine Scouts had been doubled. More-
over, Secretary Stimson, who had served
as governor-general of the Philippines
and had long advocated a firm attitude
toward Japan, favored the reinforce-
ment of the islands, as did other men in
high places. But it was the airmen's
argument that their long-range bomber,
the B-17, could do what the Navy could
not that convinced the more skeptical
and paved the way for a new view of the

"Gerow's Office Diary, entry of 31 Jul 41, OPD
Exec Files; Phil Dept Def Proj, 1940, May 41, OPD
Reg. Docs.

defense of the Philippines. A force of
these bombers based in the Philippines,
it was contended, would not only serve
to defend the islands but would consti-
tute such a threat to Japanese movements
southward toward the Netherlands In-
dies as to deter Japan from further
aggression in that direction.

The air staff proposal was approved
early in August and on the 14th the War
Plans Division of the General Staff sub-
mitted a program for reinforcing the
Philippines with antiaircraft artillery,
modern combat planes, and tanks "to
enhance the probability of holding
Luzon, and, in any event, giving a rea-
sonable assurance of holding Manila
Bay." 15 General Marshall gave the plan
his approval and then notified Mac-
Arthur that he would receive 1 coast
artillery regiment, 1 battalion of tanks,
an ordnance company, and 31 P-40's
sometime in September, and shortly after
that another 50 P-40's directly from the
factory. At the same time the Air Corps
allocated 4 heavy bomber and 2 pursuit
groups to MacArthur's Far East Air
Force and ordered a provisional squad-
ron of g B-17's from Hawaii to the
Philippines. These planes, after a his-
toric pioneer flight from Oahu by way
of Midway, Wake, Port Moresby, and
Darwin, reached Clark Field on 12 Sep-
tember. By this time the reinforcement
of the Philippines enjoyed the highest
priority in the War Department.

During the months that followed, air-
craft, weapons, supplies, and men in
increasing numbers were marked for
shipment to the Philippines. But it
took time to get orders filled, pack and
ship them to the ports, find the vessels

"Memo, Gerow for CofS, 14 Aug 41, sub: Rein-
forcement of Phil, WPD 3251-55.

THE FATAL TURN

to transport them, and sail them across
the ocean. At every step of the way there
were delays, but none so serious as the
shortage of cargo ships. By November
the backlog in U.S. ports of equipment
marked for the Philippines amounted to
approximately one million tons. Though
a shipping schedule that provided for ad-
ditional sailings in the next two months
was established, a considerable quantity
of supplies and a large number of men
destined for the Philippines never got
there.

The decision to reinforce the Philip-
pines brought into sharp focus the prob-
lem of developing a trans-Pacific air
route less exposed than the one via Mid-
way and Wake. Airmen had long urged
such a project, which had the additional
advantages of guarding the line of com-
munication to Australia and New Zea-
land and providing protection for
surface vessels along the sea lanes of the
South Pacific, but did not gain approval
until August 1941. Construction was
begun in October, when funds were
made available, and by the time war
came the route across the South Pacific
by way of Christmas, Canton, Samoa,
Fijis, and New Caledonia was nearing
completion. 18

The prevailing mood in Washington
in the fall of 1941 was one of optimism
over the possibility of defending the
Philippines. It was the opinion of the
Joint Board, expressed at the meeting of

16 For a full account of the development of this
route, see Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate,
eds., Plans and Early Operations — January 1939 to
August 1942, "The Army Air Forces in World War
II," vol. I (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
1948) (hereafter cited as AAF I), pp. 180-82; AAF,
Hist Study 9. The Development of the South Pacific
Air Route, pp. 23-28, Air Hist Office.

19 September, that the reinforcements
planned would have a profound strategic
effect in a Pacific conflict and might well
be the decisive element in deterring
Japan from opening hostilities. 17 All
that was needed was time to prepare.
The general estimate was that prepara-
tions would be completed by March 1942.
Until that time there was a risk that the
Japanese would attack, but it was a risk
the Army planners were apparently
willing to take.

The view that Japan would not strike
until the spring of 1942 was based on
careful studies of the Far Eastern situa-
tion. Japan, it was assumed, wished to
gain control of Asiatic Russia, China,
and Malaysia, and would, if conditions
were favorable, resort to war to gain its
aims. The Philippines, strategically lo-
cated along the path of Japan's south-
ward course, would be one of the early
objectives in a war with the United
States. Thus far Japan had hesitated to
seize these territories, the Army planners
believed, because of Soviet Russia's un-
expected and successful showing against
the Wehrmacht, because of economic
pressure from the United States, Great
Britain, and the Netherlands, and be-
cause of the continued resistance of the
Chinese Nationalists. Moreover, in the
opinion of the planners, the conquest of
the Philippines would be so costly an
operation that Japan "will hesitate to
make the effort except as a last resort."
The more formidable the Philippine
defenses, therefore, the less likelihood
was there of a Japanese war. 'Air and
ground units now available or scheduled
for dispatch to the Philippine Islands in
the immediate future," concluded the

"Mins, JB Mtg, 19 Sep 41.

100

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

planners, "have changed the entire
picture in the Asiatic Area." 18

Though the major assumptions and
conclusions of Rainbow 5 were still
valid, its provisions for the defense of
the Philippines were obviously in need
of revision. Drawn up on the assump-
tion that the islands could not be rein-
forced and that their loss was probable,
it called for a limited defense of the en-
trance to Manila Bay by the existing
garrison and local forces. MacArthur's
recall to active duty and the induction of
the Philippine Army into the service
of the United States, and the new view of
the defensibility of the islands and their
role as a base for air operations against
Japan, were eloquent testimony that
events had once more outrun plans. In
a strong letter to the War Department
General MacArthur pointed out these
facts, asserting that he would soon have
a force of approximately 200,000 men
organized into eleven divisions and a
greatly strengthened air force. The time
had come, he believed, to reject the
"citadel type defense" of the Orange
and Rainbow plans in favor of an active
defense of the entire archipelago. 19

This proposal, so in accord with the
new optimism over the defense of the
Philippines, met with favor in the War
Department and then in the Joint Board
which on 21 November approved a re-
vision of Rainbow 5. In this revision,
the mission of the Philippine garrison
was expanded to include "all the land
and sea areas necessary for the defense
of the Philippine Archipelago," that is,
of the entire Philippines and not only

Manila Bay. Moreover, the existence of
a greatly enlarged air force in the Phil-
ippines was recognized by the provision
for air attacks against "Japanese forces
and installations within tactical opera-
ting radius of available bases." How far
some of the planners had moved from
their original defensive concept is per-
haps most strikingly revealed in the first
draft of a letter to MacArthur which the
planners prepared for General Marshall.
Air reinforcements, they wrote, had
modified the conception of purely de-
fensive operations "to include strong
offensive air action," a phrase which
Marshall prudently changed to "strong
air operations in the furtherance of the
strategic defensive." 20 But words could
not gloss over the fact that the B-17 was
an offensive weapon and that a force of
heavy bombers in the Philippines had
only one purpose — offensive operations.
Marshall himself acknowledged this fact
in an off-the-record press interview when
he indicated "that though the last thing
the United States wants is a war with the
Japanese," it was preparing for "an
offensive war against Japan," a war
which would be waged "mercilessly
everywhere in the Pacific. 21

Though the Japanese did not wait
until the spring of 1942 to open hostili-
ties and MacArthur did not receive all
that had been promised him, the Philip-
pine garrison constituted in December
1941 a far stronger force than it had six
months earlier. The strength of the
ground forces, exclusive of the Philip-

18 Memo, Gerow for Secy of War, 8 Oct 41, sub:
Strategic Concept of the Phil Is, WPD 3251-60.

"Ltr, MacArthur to TAG, 1 Oct 41, sub: Opns
Plan R-5, WPD 4178-18.

M Ltr, CofS to CG USAFFE, 21 Nov 41, sub: U.S.-
British Cooperation in the Far East, with Incl,
extract of changes in Rainbow 5, WPD 4402-1 is.

al Notes on Conf in OCofS, 15 Nov 41, copy in
OCMH. The quotation is not General Marshall's
but is from the notes of the meeting.

THE FATAL TURN

101

pine Army, had been increased by 8,563
men and now numbered 31,095. The
ten reserve divisions of the Philippine
Army had been two-thirds mobilized but
were still poorly equipped and inade-
quately trained. The air force had been
strengthened and reorganized. At Clark
Field were 35 B-17's and scattered
among the various fields on Luzon were
over 100 P— 40's. Much remained to be
done to create a balanced air force, but
the Philippines had nevertheless a
larger number of modern combat air-
craft than any other overseas base,
including Hawaii and Panama.

Even the Asiatic Fleet had been rein-
forced, despite the Navy's assertion
earlier in the year that it would not be.
No major surface elements, it is true,
had been added but Admiral Hart had
received an additional squadron of
PBY's for a total of 32, 6 motor torpedo
boats, and 18 submarines, most of them
of the latest type, giving him all together
a fleet of 29 underwater craft. In addi-
tion, he had 1 heavy and 2 light cruisers,
13 old destroyers of World War I vin-
tage, 6 gunboats, and miscellaneous ves-
sels. Also under his command was the
4th Marine Regiment, withdrawn from
China at the end of November.

The most powerful American force in
the Pacific was the Pacific Fleet, based
at Pearl Harbor and consisting of g bat-
tleships, 3 aircraft carriers, 1 2 heavy and
8 light cruisers, 50 destroyers, 33 sub-
marines, and 100 patrol bombers. In
addition, British and Dutch vessels in
Far Eastern waters could be expected, in
the event of war with Japan, to fight the
common foe. Thus, the Allies could
muster a naval force of considerable
strength to oppose the Japanese Com-
bined Fleet. Unfortunately, all efforts to

work out a plan for concerted naval ac-
tion in the Far East proved unsuccessful.
American bases along the line of com-
munications between Hawaii and the
Philippines had also been strengthened
in 1941, but still represented little more
than token forces. Guam, whose fortifi-
cation had been recommended by the
Hepburn Report in 1938 but denied by
Congress, was still "practically defense-
less against determined attack." 22 Its
garrison was composed of 365 Marines,
a small force of natives, and a navy con-
sisting of three patrol boats; weapons
included nothing larger than the .30-
caliber machine gun. The defense of
Wake Island, for which Congress had
appropriated funds on the recommenda-
tion of the Hepburn Board, was a case,
like that of the Philippines, of too little
and too late. Construction was still in
progress on 7 December but there was
one Marine fighter squadron of twelve
Grumman Wildcats on the island, and
a 388-man detachment of the 1st Marine
Defense Battalion armed with 5-inch
coastal guns, 3-inch and .50 caliber anti-
aircraft guns, .30-caliber machine guns,
and small arms. The largest group on
the island were civilians, 70 Pan Ameri-
can Airway employees and over 1,000
construction men. Midway, the "sentry
for Hawaii" and, in the opinion of the
Hepburn Board, second in importance
only to Pearl Harbor, had since mid-
1940 been garrisoned by a small Marine
force. In the summer of 1941 a naval
air station was established on the island
and in September the 6th Defense Bat-
talion with 784 officers and men relieved
the original garrison. The planes des-
tined for Midway were embarked on the

'Hepburn Report, p. 27.

102

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

General Short

Lexington on 5 December, to be deliv-
ered on the morning of the 7th, but
other events intervened and they did not
arrive until the 17th. 23

While the Navy, with Army air forces,
provided the first line of defense in the
Pacific, the Army, with certain excep-
tions, provided the forces to defend those
bases from which ships and planes op-
erated. The most important of these lay
along the triangle Alaska-Hawaii-Pana-
ma. Not only were they vital bases but
they constituted the strategic frontier of
the United States and the outer defenses
of the west coast. Of these, only Hawaii,
2,000 miles distant from San Francisco,

ffl Lt. Col. Robert D. Heinl, Jr., The Defense oj
Wake (Washington: U.S. Marine Corps Historical
Section, 1947), pp. 4—11; Marines at Midway (Wash-
ington: U.S. Marine Corps Historical Section, 1948),
pp. 3-9, 16.

lay in the Pacific and figured in the plans
for offensive operations against Japan in
the event of war; Alaska and Panama,
though fully as important, were more
closely associated with hemisphere
defense plans.

The planners had recognized early
that the chief danger to Hawaii lay not
so much in an effort by the Japanese to
capture the islands, but rather in a sud-
den and unexpected attack, probably
from the air, on the great naval base at
Pearl Harbor. This thought had ap-
peared from time to time in studies and
estimates and was included in the local
plans for defense. 24

The transfer of the U.S. Fleet to
Pearl Harbor in April 1940 and its re-
tention there on the President's orders,
a move designed to deter the Japanese,
increased enormously the problems of
defending the naval base and the grow-
ing number of airfield installations.
During the summer and fall of 1940,
Maj. Gen. Charles D. Herron repeatedly
urged that heavy bombers and antiair-
craft defenses, including artillery, and
air warning equipment, be sent to Ha-
waii, and that bomb-proof shelters be
built. The Navy, too, was concerned
about the protection of its base from a
surprise carrier-based air attack, and
Secretary Knox gave strong support to
Herron's requests in a letter to Stimson
in January 1941. All were agreed on the
danger and sought, within the limita-
tions imposed by appropriations, to pro-
vide what was needed. But at that time
Hawaii was the best equipped American
base and had high priority for modern
aircraft, antiaircraft guns, air warning

" Watson, Prewar Plans and Preparations, pp. 465-

75-

THE FATAL TURN

103

Admiral Kimmel

equipment, and barrage balloons. There
was little more, Stimson assured Knox,
that could be done except to provide for
closer co-ordination between the Army
and Navy.

When Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short as-
sumed command of the Hawaiian De-
partment in February 1941 — at the same
time that Admiral Husband E. Kimmel
took over the Pacific Fleet — General
Marshall carefully defined his mission
for him as the protection of the naval
base and the fleet, and warned against
allowing service feuds to interfere with
joint defense plans. Short continued
along the lines already marked out, push-
ing construction of airfields, the air
warning system, dispersal areas, and gun
installations. In April he and Kimmel
submitted a revised plan for the defense
of Oahu which carefully specified the

responsibilities of each of the services.
Included with the plan was the Army
and Navy air commanders' estimate
which, with remarkable prescience, out-
lined the probable course of a Japanese
attack as a sudden air raid against ships
and installations on Oahu, coming with-
out warning and originating from car-
riers not more than 300 miles distant.
"In a dawn attack," they foretold, "there
is a high probability that it could be
delivered as a complete surprise in spite
of any patrols we might be using." 25

By December 1941, the Army garrison
in Hawaii had been considerably rein-
forced and was in many respects the
strongest base in the Pacific. Assigned
to its ground defense were 2 under-
strength infantry divisions, 4 antiair-
craft artillery regiments, almost 4 com-
plete coast artillery regiments, and 1
company of light tanks, with supporting
service troops. Of the total of 234 air-
craft, only about half were operational.
Included in this total were a large num-
ber of obsolescent types and only six
B-17's. The air warning system, though
not yet completed, consisted of six mo-
bile radar sets and three fixed stations
in place but not completely installed.

The Plan for War

Despite repeated assertions of a will-
ingness to go to war to gain its objectives,
the Japanese Government in July had
drawn back quickly in the face of the
unexpectedly strong reaction from the
United States. Contributing to this

20 Joint Estimate of Army and Navy Air Action, 31
Mar 41, Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 15, ex-
hibit 44, p. 1437; Pearl Harbor Report, pp. 83-84;
ltr, Marshall to Short, 7 Feb 41, WPD 4449-1.

104

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Japanese Mock-up of Ford Island and Battleship Row, Pearl Harbor, used in
Japanese table-top maneuvers.

lack of resolution was the slowing down
of Germany's advance in Russia and
the Japanese Navy's concern over the
shortage of oil reserves. From the end
of July until his resignation in October,
Premier Konoye sought to persuade his
Cabinet colleagues to adopt a less ag-
gressive policy in an effort to reach
agreement with the United States.

The first sign of this new policy was a
proposal, delivered by Admiral Nomura
in Washington on 6 August, for a per-
sonal meeting, a "leaders' conference,"
between the Premier and President
Roosevelt. War Minister Tojo had
agreed to this proposal only on the un-
derstanding that Konoye would use the
occasion to press the program for expan-

sion to the south. The American reply
on the 17 th that a prerequisite to such a
meeting was the settlement of the issues
between the two countries confirmed
Tojo and the Army leaders in their view
that the United States would never yield
to the Japanese demands and that war
should begin as soon as the Army and
Navy were ready.

The difference between Konoye's and
Tojo's views was temporarily resolved
early in September and formalized at an
Imperial Conference held on the 6th of
the month. The agreement was charac-
teristically Japanese and expressed in
language both sides could accept and
interpret in their own way. The nego-
tiations with the United States, it was

THE FATAL TURN

105

agreed, would be continued, as Konoye
wished. But at the same time, military
preparations would be pushed to com-
pletion so that the nation would be ready
for war by the end of October, that is,
in six weeks. "If by the early part of
October," the conferees decided, "there
is no reasonable hope of having our de-
mands agreed to in the diplomatic nego-
tiations . . . we will immediately make
up our minds to get ready for war. . . ." 26
The Imperial Conference also fixed
the minimum demands Japan would
make and the maximum concessions it
would grant in the negotiations with
the United States and Great Britain.
The minimum demands Japan asked
were, first, both the Western Powers
would promise to discontinue aid to
China, close the Burma Road, and
"neither meddle in nor interrupt" a set-
tlement between Japan and China; sec-
ond, America and Britain would recog-
nize Japan's "special position in French
Indochina and agree not to establish or
reinforce their bases in the Far East or
take any action which might threaten
Japan; and third, both nations would
resume commercial relations with Japan,
supply the materials "indispensable for
her self-existence," and "gladly coop-
erate" in Japan's economic program in
Thailand and Indochina. In return for
these "minimum demands" the Japa-
nese were willing to agree not to use
Indochina as a base for further military

"Konoye Memoirs, Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings,
pt. ao, pp. 4022—23. The wording of this important
statement varies in different documents. IMTFE
Doc. 1579 gives a slightly different wording as does
IMTFE Judgment, ch. VII, p. 939. The Japanese
phrase "kaiseno ketsui su" may be translated literally
"decide to open hostilities." Konoye apparently did
not interpret the phrase as meaning that it was a
decision for war; Tojo did.

advance, except in China; to withdraw
from Indochina "after an impartial
peace" had been established in the Far
East; and, finally, to guarantee the neu-
trality of the Philippine Islands. 27

While negotiations went forward, the
Army and Navy General Staff continued
their preparations for war and the troops
earmarked for operations in the south
intensified their training, usually under
conditions approximating those of the
areas in which they would fight. Since
agreement had already been reached on
the strategy for war, General Sugiyama,
Chief of the Army's General Staff, was
able shortly after the 6 September Im-
perial Conference, to direct that detailed
operational plans for the seizure of
Malaya, Java, Borneo, the Bismarck Ar-
chipelago, the Netherlands Indies, and
the Philippines be prepared. 28 The
Army planners immediately went to
work and the next two months witnessed
feverish activity in the General Staff.

By the end of August the Navy staff
had worked out plans for seizing bases in
the western Pacific, and had from Ad-
miral Yamamoto a separate plan for an
attack on Pearl Harbor. "Table-top ma-
neuvers" at Tokyo Naval War College
between 10-13 September resulted in
agreement on operations for the seizure
of the Philippines, Malaya, the Nether-
lands Indies, Burma, and islands in the
South Pacific. But there was still some
doubt about Yamamoto's plan. The ex-
ercise had demonstrated that a Pearl
Harbor strike was practicable, but many
felt that it was too risky, that the U.S.
Pacific Fleet might not be in port on the
day of the attack, and that the danger of

"Ibid., IMTFE Doc. 165a, exhibit 588.
"IMTFE exhibit 2244, Deposition of Tanaka.

ManSHALL
I s.

01 l a e h t

t s

30"

107

77^

it?

/T^

;>.♦»

■,>*

- <0 «-

-»•-

SAMOA IS

THE JAPANESE PLAN FOR WAR
December 1941

«^b^^^ CARRIER- BASED ATTACK Oh PEARL MARSgp

^b^m^m Approximate limit of objective area

STATI/TE MILES

f, Ttmp*0

discovery during the long voyage to
Hawaii was too great. But Admiral
Yamamoto refused to give up his plan
and finally, when he failed to convert
his colleagues, offered to resign from the
Navy. The combination of his strong
argument that the success of the south-
ward drive depended on the destruction
of the American fleet, his enormous
prestige, and his threat to resign were
too much for opponents of the plan. In
mid-October, a month after the maneu-
vers, the Navy General Staff finally
adopted his concept of a surprise carrier-
based attack on Pearl Harbor and in-
corporated it into the larger plan for
war. 29

This larger plan, which was virtually
complete by 20 October and was the one
followed by the Japanese when war came,
had as its immediate objective the cap-
ture of the rich Dutch and British pos-
sessions in southeast Asia, especially
Malaya and the Netherlands Indies. To
secure these areas, the Japanese believed
it necessary to destroy or neutralize the
U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and
to deprive the United States of its base
in the Philippines. America's line of
communications across the Pacific was
to be cut by the seizure of Wake and
Guam. Once the coveted area to the
south had been secured, Japan would
occupy strategic positions in Asia and in
the Pacific and fortify them immediately.
These bases were to form a powerful de-
fensive perimeter around the newly
acquired southern area, the home is-

"For a full account of the evolution of the Pearl
Harbor plan see Robert E. Ward, "The Inside Story
of the Pearl Harbor Plan," U.S. Naval Institute Pro-
ceedings, LXXVII, No. 12 (December 1951), pp.
1272-81.

108

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

lands, and the vital shipping lanes con-
necting Japan with its sources of supply. 30
The area marked for conquest formed
a vast triangle, whose east arm stretched
from the Kuril Islands on the north
through Wake, to the Marshall and
Gilbert Islands. The base of the tri-
angle was formed by a line connecting
the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, the Bis-
marck Archipelago, Java and Sumatra.
The western arm extended from Malaya
and southern Burma through Indochina,
and thence along the China coast.

(Ma p i)

The acquisition of this area would
give to Japan control of the resources of
Southeast Asia and would satisfy the
national objectives in going to war.
Perhaps later, if all went well, the Japa-
nese believed, the area of conquest could
be extended. But there is no evidence
in the Japanese plans of an intention to
defeat the United States. Japan planned
to fight a war of limited objectives and,
having gained what it wanted, expected
to negotiate for a favorable peace.

Operations to secure these objectives
and others would begin on the first day
of war, when Japanese military forces
would go into action simultaneously on
many fronts. Navy carrier-based aircraft
would attack the U.S. Pacific Fleet in
the Hawaii area. Immediately after,
joint Army and Navy air forces would
strike American air and naval forces in
the Philippines, while other Japanese
forces hit British Malaya. After these
simultaneous attacks, advance Army
units were to be landed at various points
in Malaya, the Philippines, and British

"This account of the Japanese plan is based on a
number of documents which, together with the
plan, ar e described in Morton, The Fall of the Phil-
ippines, ^,. ^i-^.\

Borneo. The results thus obtained were
to be immediately exploited by large-
scale landings in the Philippines and in
Malaya, followed by the rapid occupa-
tion of those areas. At the same time,
Thailand was to be "stabilized," Hong
Kong seized, and Wake and Guam oc-
cupied. The conquest of the Bismarck
Archipelago would follow the seizure of
the last two islands.

During this first period, Army and
Navy forces were to seize advance air
bases in the Celebes, Dutch Borneo,
southern Sumatra, the Moluccas, and
Timor. The bases thus seized were to be
immediately utilized for air attacks on
Java, while other preparations for the
invasion of that island were speedily
completed.

With the U.S. Fleet and the Philip-
pines neutralized, and with advance
bases in the Netherlands Indies, the
Japanese would move against Java and
Sumatra. Taking Singapore under fire
from the land side, that is, from Malaya,
Japanese forces would first invade and
occupy this British bastion. Once that
fortress was reduced, the Japanese would
move on to northern Sumatra, in prepa-
ration for the drive on Java. Meanwhile,
other Japanese forces moving southward
through the Netherlands Indies were to
join those in Sumatra in the final attack
on Java.

While Java was being occupied, the
Japanese would complete their seizure of
Sumatra and capture air bases on the
southern tip of Burma at the earliest
possible moment. If conditions were
favorable they would then push on .in
Burma and occupy the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean.
Operations in China would be contin-
ued throughout this period in order

THE FATAL TURN

109

to maintain "the present strategic
situation." 31

The occupation of the Netherlands
Indies would complete the first period of
the war and would, the Japanese esti-
mated, require five months. The Philip-
pines they expected to take in 50 days,
Malaya in 100, the Indies in 150. After
that time the Japanese would consoli-
date their position and strengthen the
bases along the perimeter of their newly
gained empire in order to repulse any
Allied effort to penetrate this defensive
ring or threaten the vital area within it.
During this period the Army would con-
tinue its operations in China and Burma
and establish a system of administration
for the southern area.

The Navy's plan for the period after
the initial operations was to intercept
with a strong force anticipated trans-
Pacific operations of U.S. naval forces.
Its plan lists as "areas expected to be
occupied or destroyed" eastern New
Guinea, New Britain, the Fiji Islands,
Samoa, the Aleutians, Midway, and
"strategic points in the Australia area." 32
But operations to seize these objectives
were not authorized by Imperial Gen-
eral Headquarters until the spring of
1942.

Japanese planners anticipated that
certain events might require an altera-
tion in their strategy and outlined
alternative courses of action. The first
possibility was that Japanese-American
negotiations then in progress would
prove successful. If this unexpected suc-
cess was achieved, all operations were to

31 Hist of Army Sec, Imperial GHQ, Japanese
Studies in World War II, 72, p. 16.

"Combined Fleet Top Secret Operational Order 1,
5 Nov 41, in Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 13,
p. 438.

be suspended, even if the final order to
attack had been issued. The second pos-
sibility was that the United States might
take action before the attack on Pearl
Harbor by sending elements of the Pa-
cific Fleet to the Far East. In that event,
the Combined Fleet would be deployed
to intercept American naval forces. The
attacks against the Philippines and
Malaya were to proceed according to
schedule.

If the Americans or British launched
local attacks, Japanese ground forces
were to meet the attack and air power
was to be brought into the area to
destroy the enemy. These local opera-
tions were not to interrupt the execution
of the general plan, but if the United
States or Great Britain seized the initia-
tive by opening operations first, Japa-
nese forces were to await orders from
Imperial General Headquarters before
beginning their assigned operations.
The possibility of a Soviet attack, or of
a joint United States-Soviet invasion
from the north, was also considered by
the Japanese planners. To meet such a
contingency, Japanese forces in Man-
churia were to be strengthened. Should
this attack materialize the Philippine
and Malay operations were to proceed
as planned, while air units were to be
immediately transferred from the home
islands or China to destroy Russian air
forces in the Far East. Ground forces
were to be deployed to Manchuria at the
same time to meet Soviet forces on the
ground.

The forces required to execute this
vast plan for conquest were very care-
fully calculat ed by Imperial General

Headquarters. \(Chart i)\ A large force
had to be left in Manchuria, and an even
larger one in China. Garrisons for

Chart 1 — Disposition of Major Japanese Forces for War, December 1941

IMPERIAL GENERAL
HEADQUARTERS

SOUTHERN ARMY (Saigon)

GUAM OCCUPATION FORCE

14th Aimy
(Philippines Attack Force)

5th Air Group
([Formosa)

48th Division
(Formosa)

,^_| 16th Division
(Amami Oshima)
(Patau Islands)

15th Army
(Burma Attack Force)

55th Division
(Indochina)

_ m Army Troops
(Formosa)

16th Army
(East Indies Attack Force)

33d Division
(China)

Army Troops
(Indochina)

25th Army
(Malay Attack Force)

2d Division
(Japan)

CHINA EXPEDITIONARY
FORCE

South Seaj

Detachment

(Bonin Islands)

Army Reserve
2.1 st Division in China
56tfi Division in Japan

56th Division
(elements) (Palaus)

3d Air Group
(China and Indochina)

5th Division
(Hainan)

144th Infantry Regiment
(Bon ins)

Artillery Battalion

and other elements

(Bonins)

H Imperial Guards Division
(Indochina)

18th Division
(China)

Army Troops
(Formosa)

23d Army
(Hong Kong Attack Force)

COMBINED FLEET

Main Body

6 battleships

2 aircraft camera

2 light cruisers

1 destroyer

Pearl Harbor
Attack Force

6 aircraft carriers
2 battleships

2 heavy cruisers
1 light cruiser

11 destroyers

3 submarines

Advance (Submarine)
Force

27 submarines

CHINA SEA FLEET

Continue Opns in China,
co-operate in Hong Kong Operation

South Seas Force

Occupy Wake

Co-operate in occupation

of Guam and Rabaul

Southern Forces

Co-operate
with Southern Army

Northern Force

2 light cruisers
1 destroyer
1 air group
1 base force
Miscellaneous vessels

Main Body

2 battleships
2 heavy cruisers
10 destroyers

Pfiilipptr

i Force

1 aircraft carrier
5 heavy cruisers
5 light cruisers

29 destroyers

Miscellaneous vessels

Malaya Force

5 heavy cruisers

3 light cruisers
1 5 destroyers
16 submarines

1 air flotilla

2 base forces
Miscellaneous vessels

Submarine Forces

2 submarines
1 tender

38th Division
(Canton)

Source: Japanese Opns in SWPA, IL pp. 60-64

THE FATAL TURN

111

Korea, Formosa, Indochina, and the de-
fense of the home islands required addi-
tional forces. Thus, only a small fraction
of the Japanese Army was available for
operations in the south. Of the total
strength of the Army's 51 divisions, 1
cavalry group, 5g mixed brigades, and
1,500 first-line planes, Imperial General
Headquarters could give the Southern
Army, which had the mission of carrying
out all these operations, only 1 1 divi-
sions and the bulk of 2 air groups with
approximately 700 planes.

The Japanese allocated their forces
for the initial operations only after a
careful estimate of the enemy forces. 33
In the Philippines, the Japanese cor-
rectly estimated there was a U.S. Army
garrison (exclusive of Scouts) of 22,000
men and 110,000 Philippine Army
troops. The air strength in the islands
was thought to consist of 270 planes of
all types, 70 of which were heavy planes.
The British were thought to have in
Malaya alone 90,000 troops, and in Burma
another 35,000. Dutch ground forces in
the Indies were estimated to number
85,000 men. The total enemy ground
strength was placed at 447,000 men, in-
cluding British, American, Dutch, and
Thailand troops. This figure did not
include Chinese, Indian, Australian, and
New Zealand troops. The total enemy
air strength, the Japanese estimated, con-
sisted of 1,249 aircraft distributed as
follows: Malaya, 330; Burma, 60; Philip-
pine Islands, 270; Netherlands Indies,

33 Army estimates are based on Hist of Army Sec,
Imperial GHQ, Japanese Studies in World War II,
72, pp. 12, 18-22; Navy estimates on Political Strat-
egy Prior to Outbreak of War, pt. V, same series, 152,
pp. 19—20. The estimates are for November 1941: the
first source.

312; Thailand, 177; China, 130. The
Hawaiian air force was not included in
the Japanese estimates.

American naval strength was over-
estimated. The Japanese believed there
were 5 carriers in the Pacific area. They
placed 2 cruisers, 1 heavy and 1 light, in
the Asiatic Fleet, and another 3 in the
Pacific Fleet, which was thought to con-
tain also 1 1 battleships, 84 destroyers,
and 30 submarines. The submarine
force in Philippine waters was estimated
at 17 underwater craft. Their estimate
of British and Dutch naval forces was
equally inaccurate.

In the execution of this complicated
and intricate plan, the Japanese planners
realized, success would depend on care-
ful timing and on the closest co-opera-
tion between Army and Navy forces. No
provision was made for unified com-
mand of all services. Instead, separate
agreements were made between Army
and Navy Fleet commanders for each
operation. These agreements provided
simply for co-operation at the time of
landing and for the distribution of
forces.

In addition to supporting the Army's
operations in the south, the Combined
Fleet had other important missions.
Perhaps the most important, and cer-
tainly the most spectacular, was that as-
signed the Pearl Harbor Striking Force.
Later, this force was to support opera-
tions of the 4 th Fleet and then assist in
the southern operations. The 6th Fleet
(submarines) was to operate in Hawaii-
an waters and along the west coast of
the United States to observe the move-
ments of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and
destroy lines of communication by sur-
prise attacks on shipping. The 5th Fleet
was to patrol the waters east of Japan, in

112 STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

readiness for enemy surprise attacks, when it would go into effect. That de-

and, above all, to keep on the alert cision awaited another more important

against Russia. decision: whether or not Japan would

The Japanese plan for war was com- go to war. The answer was not long in

plete in all respects but one — the date coming.

CHAPTER V

The Decision for War

One would have lingering wars with little cost;
Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;
A third thinks, without expense at all,
By guileful fair words peace may be obtained.

Shakespeare, Henry VI

By the fall of 1941 relations between
the United States and Japan had reached
a critical stage. American leaders had
made it clear that so long as Japan ad-
hered to the Tripartite Pact and to its
efforts to conquer China there was little
chance for compromise. But they needed
time to complete their preparations.

For the Japanese, most of whom were
unwilling to pay the American price for
peace, time was of the essence. They
were convinced that acceptance of
American peace terms would only lead
to further demands and ultimately leave
Japan dependent on the United States
and Great Britain. To them the gambles
of war seemed preferable to the ignominy
of a disgraceful peace.

The necessity for a prompt decision on
Japan's future course was pressing, the
Japanese leaders believed. The economic
blockade was slowly depriving the
nation of the power to fight. Signs of
military co-operation among the Allies
and of their intention to reinforce their
Far Eastern bases were too clear to be
ignored. Failure to seize the right mo-
ment for action might lose for Japan
the vital resources of Malaya and the
Netherlands Indies without which the

nation would be dependent upon the
United States and Great Britain. Thus,
the Japanese were in the unenviable
position — or thought they were^-of
either making concessions or going to
war. They could not afford delay.
"Time had become the meter of strategy
for both governments. But one did not
mind its passing, while the other was
crazed by the tick of the clock." 1

Tojo Takes Over

The six weeks' reprieve Prince
Konoye had won on 6 September to

1 Feis, The Road to Pearl Harbor, p. 270. Unless
otherwise noted, this chapter is based on this work
and upon the Konoye Memoirs, Peart Harbor Attack
Hearings, pt 20; The Japanese intercepts in pt. 12,
pp. 1—854; Pearl Harbor Report; IMTFE, Judgment,
ch. VII, pp. 935—95; U.S. Foreign Relations, Japan:
1931-41, II, 549—58, 709— 16, 766—70; U.S. Department
of State, Peace and War, United States Foreign Pol-
icy, 1931-1041 (Washington, Government Printing
Office, 1943). Other works of value for this period are
Langer and Gleason, "The Undeclared War; Walter
Millis, This is Pearl! The United States and Japan —
104 1 (New York: William Morrow and Company,
1947); Stimson and Bundy, On Active Service in Peace
and War; Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, Hull,
Memoirs; Samuel Eliot Morison, The Rising Sun in
the Pacific, 1951— April 1942, vol. Ill, "History of
United States Naval Operations in World War II"
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company).

114

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

settle the outstanding issues between the
United States and Japan by diplomacy
went by quickly without producing a
settlement. A new proposal, which Am-
bassador Nomura delivered to Hull on
27 September, was rejected by the
Americans. On 10 October, Nomura,
who had renewed the request for a meet-
ing between Roosevelt and Konoye,
wrote Foreign Minister Soemu Toyoda
that there was not "the slightest chance
on earth" of a leader's conference "so
long as Japan refused to compromise."
The negotiations, in the words of Toy-
oda, had "slowly but surely . . . reached
the decisive stage." 2

The domestic situation was no better.
Even more insistently, the Army and
Navy pressed for a quick decision on the
question of war. Oil stocks, the services
pointed out, were steadily diminishing,
the United States was rapidly reinforc-
ing the Philippines, and the most favora-
ble season of the year for operations
was rapidly approaching. Failure to act
soon, they declared, might result in a
delay of many months and expose the
Japanese to a Soviet attack in Man-
churia. Finally, on 24 September, Gen-
eral Sugiyama and Admiral Osami
Nagano, the Army and Navy Chiefs of
Staff, submitted a joint letter calling at-
tention to the shortage of supplies, the
effect of the weather on operations, and
the problems of mobilizing, staging, and
deploying their forces. "With all the
force of their position" they asked for a
quick decision "by 15 October at the
latest," so that they could start operations
by mid-November. 8

With no agreement in sight Konoye
sought to win an extension. On 12 Octo-
ber he invited War Minister Tojo, the
Navy and Foreign Ministers, and the
president of the Planning Board to his
home for a final conference on the ques-
tion of war and peace. At the meeting
the Premier argued strongly for continu-
ing the negotiations beyond the dead-
line, then set at 15 October. The Navy
Minister would not commit himself but
General Tojo, on the ground that suc-
cess in the negotiations would require
concessions in China, refused to go
along with Konoye. The issue had now
been narrowed to the withdrawal of
Japanese troops from China and on the
morning of the 14th the Premier again
sought Tojo's consent. "On this occa-
sion," he urged the War Minister, "we
ought to give in for a time . . . and
save ourselves from the crisis of a
Japanese-American war." Tojo again
refused, and at a Cabinet meeting later
in the day demanded that the negotia-
tions be terminated. Finally, late that
night, he sent Konoye a message stating
that the Cabinet ought to resign, "de-
clare insolvent everything that has hap-
pened up to now, and reconsider our
plans once more." 4

Without Tojo's support Konoye had
no recourse but to resign. The Army,
seeking possibly to avoid responsibility
for the decision which must soon be
made, suggested as his successor a mem-
ber of the Imperial family, Prince
Naruhiko Higashikuni. The suggestion
was rejected as contrary to tradition and
the Marquis Kido, together with the
council of senior statesmen (former pre-

'Pearl Harbor Report, p. 322.
3 Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak oE War, pt.
IV, Japanese Studies in World War II, 150, pp. 13-15.

* Konoye Memoirs, Pearl Harbor Attach Hearings,
pt. 20, p. 4010.

THE DECISION FOR WAR

115

miers) , recommended that Tojo him-
self be named premier. The Emperor
accepted this recommendation. On the
18th Tojo took office with an Imperial
mandate to reconsider Japan's policy in
relation to the world situation without
regard for the 6 September decision.
The fate of Japan was in the hands of
its generals.

In Washington where every Japanese
move was carefully weighed and ana-
lyzed, the Cabinet crisis was cause for
real concern and Ambassador Grew's
cables did little to lessen it. On the 16th
when Konoye resigned. Admiral Stark
told Pacific and Asiatic Fleet command-
ers that there was "a strong possibility"
of war between Japan and the Soviet
Union. Warning them that Japan might
also attack the United States, Stark
instructed the two commanders to take
"due precautions." This message Hart
and Kimmel passed on to their Army
colleagues who a few days later received
quite a different message from Washing-
ton informing them that they need not
expect an "abrupt change in Japanese
foreign policy." 5 Apparently the Army
did not agree with the Navy's estimate
of the international situation, and nei-
ther mentioned the possibility of an
attack on Pearl Harbor.

The period from 18 October to 5
November was one of mounting ten-
sion and frantic preparations on both
sides of the Pacific. In Tokyo the Tojo
Cabinet and the high command, meet-
ing in an almost continuous series of

'Memo, Gerow for CofS, 18 Oct 41, sub: Resigna-
tion of Japanese Cabinet; Rad, CNO to CINCPAC
and CINCAF, 16 Oct 41, both in Pearl Harbor Attack
Hearings, pt. 14, pp. 1389, 1402. See also Ltr, Grew to
author, 19 Jun 49, OCMH.

Liaison Conferences, considered every
aspect of Japan's position and completed
the plans for war. Finally, on 5 Novem-
ber a decision was reached and con-
firmed by an Imperial Conference. This
decision was substantially the same as
that reached on 6 September: to con-
tinue negotiations in an effort to reach
an agreement with the United States,
and, if no settlement was reached, to
open hostilities. The deadline first set
was 25 November, later extended to the
29th of the month. The significance of
this decision was revealed in a message
the new Foreign Minister, Shigenori
Togo, sent Admiral Nomura on the 4th
telling him that relations between the
two countries had "reached the edge."
Next day he wrote that time was "exceed-
ingly short," and the situation "very
critical." "Absolutely no delays can be
permitted. Please bear this in mind and
do your best," Togo said. "I wish to
stress this point over and over." 6

The Imperial Conference of 5 Novem-
ber agreed that Japan should make pro-
posals to the United States. The first,
Proposal A, was an amendment to the
latest Japanese proposal and provided
for a withdrawal from China and French
Indochina, when and if a peace treaty
had been signed with Chiang Kai-shek.
In certain areas in China, to be specified
in the treaty, Japanese troops would
remain for a "suitable period," vaguely
and informally estimated at about
twenty-five years. Further, the Japanese
Government would interpret its obliga-
tions under the Tripartite Pact inde-
pendently of the other Axis Powers.
Lastly, Japan would agree not to dis-

6 Dispatch, Togo to Nomura, 4 and 5 Nov 41, in
Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 12, exhibit 1 , p. ga.

116

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

General Tojo

criminate in trade, provided all other
nations did the same. In his instructions
to Nomura, Foreign Minister Togo em-
phasized that while other matters could
be compromised in his negotiations with
the United States, Japan could not yield
on the question of China.

In Proposal B, to be made if the first
was rejected, no mention was made of
the Tripartite Pact or the removal of
Japanese troops from China. Japan
would withdraw its troops from south-
ern Indochina immediately and from
the northern part of that country only
after the negotiation of a peace treaty
with Chiang Kai-shek, or after the con-
clusion of a "just peace" in the Pacific.
In return, the United States was to agree
not to interfere in the negotiations with
China, and to co-operate with Japan in
the acquisition and exploitation of natu-

ral resources in the Netherlands Indies.
Finally, the United States was to resume
commercial relations with Japan, and to
provide that nation with oil. 7

With the decision made and the dead-
line set, the Army and Navy drew up
an agreement embodying the objectives
of the war and an outline of operations.
On the same day the Navy Chief of Staff
sent the Combined Fleet orders outlin-
ing the Navy's operations for war, with
the explanation that "anticipating that
war with the United States, Great Brit-
ain, and the Netherlands will begin in
the early part of December, for self-
preservation and self-defense, the Em-
pire has decided to complete the various
preparations for war." 8 During the re-
mainder of the month, the fleet was
assembled, and on the 21st all forces,
including the Carrier Striking Force
scheduled to attack the Pacific Fleet,
were ordered into operational waters.
Most of the submarines for the Hawaiian
area left Japan around 20 November.

On the 6th, the Army Chief of Staff
issued instructions to the Southern Army
to prepare detailed plans for operations
in the event that the negotiations failed.
At a meeting in Tokyo on 10 November,
the Army and Navy commanders reached
agreement on the details of their plans.
At the same time, the major field com-
manders received orders to proceed with
their preparations. On 20 November,
the actual order for the attack was issued,
but with the proviso that it would be

'The text of the two proposals is reproduced in
IMTFE exhibit 779.

8 USSBS, The Campaigns of the Pacific War,
(Washington, 1946), app. 12, pp. 43—46, app. 14, p. 49.
The Combined Fleet Top Secret Order 1 is repro-
duced in Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 13, pp.
431-84.

THE DECISION FOR WAR

117

held until the results of the diplomatic
negotiations were known.

In Washington, the privileged few
followed each diplomatic move of the
Japanese in the mirror of Magic while
observing in reports from all parts of
the Far East increasing evidence of Jap-
anese military preparations. Japanese
ship movements toward Malaya and the
concentration of shipping at Formosa,
staging area for an attack on the Philip-
pines, were quickly detected by Ameri-
can observers. Mr. Grew, who had
reported as early as 27 January 1941
that there was talk in Tokyo of a sur-
prise attack on Pearl Harbor, warned
on 3 November that recent troop move-
ments placed Japan in a position to
start operations "in either Siberia or
the Southwest Pacific or in both," and
that war might come with "dramatic and
dangerous suddenness." "Things seem
to be moving steadily toward a crisis in
the Pacific," wrote Admiral Stark to his
Pacific Fleet commander on 7 November.
"A month may see, literally, most
anything. ... It doesn't look good." 10

The Progress of Negotiations

The first proposal agreed upon at the
Imperial Conference of 5 November was
handed to Mr. Hull by Ambassador
Nomura two days later. On the 12th,
the Secretary of State told the Japanese
Ambassador that the proposal was being
studied and that he hoped to have a
reply ready within three days. When it

"Hist of Southern Army, 1941—45, Japanese Studies
in World II, 72, pp. 4—8; Hist of Army Sec. Imperial
GHQ, revised ed., same series, 72, pp. 29-39.

"Telgs, Grew to Hull, 27 Jan and 3 Nov 41, in
Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 14, exhibit 15, pp.
1042, 1045-60; Ltr, CNO to Kimmel, 7 Nov 41, G-3
Exec Files.

Japanese Signs proclaiming an economy
drive in Tokyo.

came it proved to be a rejection of Pro-
posal A on the ground that the offer
to withdraw troops from China and
Indochina was indefinite and uncertain,
and that the United States could not
agree to the Japanese definition of
nondiscrimination in trade.

On 20 November, Admiral Nomura,
who now had the benefit of the advice
of his newly arrived colleague Saburo
Kurusu, presented Proposal B, virtually
a restatement of the "minimum de-
mands" and "maximum concessions" of
the 6 September Imperial Conference.
Intercepted Japanese messages had
already revealed to Mr. Hull that this was
to be Japan's last offer for a settlement.
To the Secretary, the Japanese offer "put
conditions that would have assured Ja-
pan's domination of the Pacific, placing

118

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

us in serious danger for decades to
come." The commitments which the
United States would have had to make
were, in his opinion, "virtually a
surrender." u

The problem faced by American polit-
ical and military leaders was a serious
one. An outright rejection of Proposal
B might well provide Japan with the
pretext for war. Full acceptance was
out of the question. The only way out
of the dilemma was to find a "reasonable
counterproposal" or a basis for tempo-
rary agreement. In support of this point
of view, Admiral Stark and General
Gerow pointed out to the Secretary of
State that a modus Vivendi would "attain
one of our present major objectives —
the avoidance of war with Japan." "Even
a temporary peace in the Pacific," Gerow,
who was acting for Marshall, urged,
"would permit us to complete defensive
preparations in the Philippines and at
the same time insure continuance of
material assistance to the British — both
of which are highly important." 12

During the next four days, various
drafts of a modus vivendi were prepared,
and a final draft was completed on the
25th. This document provided that both
nations would refrain from "any advance
by force" into any areas in eastern Asia
or the Pacific, and that japan would
withdraw from southern Indochina, re-
duce the number of troops in that coun-
try, and not send any reinforcements
there. In return, the United States
agreed to modify its economic restric-
tions to permit the shipment of $600,000

worth of cotton a month, medical sup-
plies, and oil "for civilian needs." The
modus vivendi was to remain in force
three months. 13

The modus vivendi and the reply to
Japan's Proposal B were the subjects of
a lively discussion by the War Council
on 25 November. The general view was
that the modus vivendi should be
adopted, but Hull was pessimistic and
expressed the view that the Japanese
might "break out any time with new
acts of conquest by force" and that na-
tional security now "lies in the hands
of the Army and Navy." 14 Nor could
the U.S. Government ignore the unfa-
vorable reaction of other powers to the
modus vivendi. Great Britain, China,
the Netherlands, and Australia felt that
it represented a move in the direction
of appeasement. The Chinese reaction
was especially sharp, and from Chiang
came a bitter protest, supported by a
cable from Churchill.

The President was faced with a fateful
decision. The Army and Navy wanted
time to prepare for war, and were will-
ing to buy it with minor concessions.
But the slight prospect of Japanese
acceptance of the modus vivendi was,
in the view of the Secretary of State,
hardly worth the risk of lowering Chi-
nese morale and resistance, and opening
the way for appeasement. At a meeting
in the White House on 26 November,
the President and Mr. Hull agreed that
the small results expected from the
modus vivendi did not justify the risks.

"Hull, Memoirs, II, 1069.

"Memos, Stark and Gerow for Secy State, 21 Nov
41, in Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 14, pp.
1104-07.

"Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 14, exhibit 18,
pp. 1085—1201. Mr. Hull characterized the economic
concessions as "chicken feed." Pearl Harbor Report,

p.S8i-
"Hull, Memoirs, II, 1080.

THE DECISION FOR WAR

119

That afternoon, therefore, when the Sec-
retary of State handed the Japanese
Ambassador his 10-point reply to Pro-
posal B, he omitted the modus vivendi
which had been intended as an intro-
duction to these points outlining the
basis for a peaceful settlement.

Though the military leaders were
informed on the evening of the 26th
of the decision to abandon the modus
vivendi, they were apparently not ad-
vised of the action taken on the ten
points. Consequently, the discussions on
the morning of the 26 th in General
Marshall's office, and in the Joint Board
later in the day, were held without
knowledge of the final rejection of
Japan's last proposal. 15 On the follow-
ing morning, 27 November, Marshall
and Stark summarized for the President
their view of the situation. A Japanese
offensive seemed imminent to them, but
the direction of the attack "cannot now
be forecast." "The most essential thing,
from the United States point of view,"
they declared, "is to gain time" to com-
plete the preparations for war. Military
action before the completion of the
reinforcement of the Philippines, they
urged, should be avoided "so long as
consistent with the national policy," and
should be considered "only if Japan
attacks or directly threatens United
States, British, or Dutch territory." 18

In view of the seriousness of the situa-
tion, the Army and Navy chiefs felt that
commanders in the Pacific should be

"OCofS Conf, 26 Nov 41, WDCSA 381 Phil (12-
4—41); Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 15, pp.
1641—43; Langer and Gleason, The Undeclared War,
pp. 898-99.

16 Memo, Marshall and Stark for President, 27 Nov
41, sub: Far Eastern Situation, Pearl Harbor Attack
Hearings, pt. 14, p. 1083.

warned immediately. Already, the Navy
had sent out word on the 24th — to be
passed on to the Army commanders —
that prospects for an agreement with
Japan were slight and that Japanese
troop movements indicated that "a sur-
prise aggressive movement in any direc-
tion, including attack on Philippines or
Guam" was a possibility. 17 Now, on the
27th, Stimson asked General Gerow —
Marshall had left for the Carolina ma-
neuvers — whether the Army should not
send a warning. Gerow showed him the
Navy message of the 24th, but this failed
to satisfy Stimson who observed that the
President wanted a warning message sent
to the Philippines. After a number of
hurried meetings of the War Council,
the 27 November war warning was
drafted. Considered by the War Depart-
ment as a "final alert," the message was
sent to Hawaii, the Philippines, Panama,
and San Francisco. The commander of
each of these garrisons was told of the
status of the negotiations with Japan,
the imminence of hostilities, and the
desirability of having Japan commit the
"first overt act." Each was instructed
to "undertake such reconnaissance and
other measures" as he thought necessary
and to carry out the tasks assigned in
Rainbow 5 if hostilities occurred. With
the exception of MacArthur, each of the
commanders was also warned not to
alarm the civilian population or to "dis-
close intent." At the same time G-2 of
the War Department sent an additional
and briefer message to Hawaii and Pan-
ama, but not to the Philippines, warning
against subversive activities.

"Rad, OPNAV to Comdrs Pacific and Asiatic
Fleets, 2005, 24 Nov 41, Pearl Harbor Attack Hear-
ings, pt. 14, p. 1405.

120

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Joint Board Meeting, November 1941. This is the first photograph taken of the Joint
Board. Seated around the table, from left: Brig. Gen. Harold F. Loomis, Maj. Gen. Henry H
Arnold, Maj. Gen. William Bryden, General Marshall, Admiral Stark, Rear Adm. Royal E.
Ingersoll, Rear Adm. John H. Towers, Rear Adm. Richmond K. Turner.

The Navy warning of the ayth, which
was passed on to the Army commanders,
was more strongly worded and was defi-
nitely an alert for war. "This dispatch,"
it read, "is to be considered a war warn-
ing. . . . An aggressive move by Japan
is expected within the next few days."
Navy commanders were alerted to the
likelihood of amphibious operations
against either the Philippines, the Kra
Peninsula, or Borneo and instructed to
"execute an appropriate defensive de-
ployment" preparatory to carrying out
the tasks assigned in their war plans.
The possibility of attack on Pearl Har-

bor was not mentioned in either of the
messages. 18

The response to these warnings was
immediate. From MacArthur, who had
promptly alerted his command, came the
report that air reconnaissance had been
extended and intensified "in conjunc-

18 Memo, Gerow for Marshall, 27 Nov. 41, sub: Far
Eastern Situation; Rads, Marshall to CG USAFFE,
Hawaiian Dept, and Caribbean Defense Comd, Nos.
624, 472, 461, 27 Nov 41, OCS 18136-118 and WPD
4544-16; Brig Gen Sherman Miles to G— a Hawaiian
Dept. No. 472, 27 Nov 41. Most of these are published
in Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 3, p. 1021, pt.
14, pp. 1328-30. Stimson's account of these events is
in pt. 39, p. 84. The Navy message is in pt. 14, p. 1406.
See also Pearl Harbor Report, pp. 199—201.

THE DECISION FOR WAR

121

tion with the Navy," and that measures
for ground security had been taken.
"Within the limitations imposed by pres-
ent state of development of this theater
of operations," he told the Chief of
Staff, "everything is in readiness for the
conduct of a successful defense." The
reply from General Short in Hawaii,
where both the war warning and the
G— 2 message had arrived at about the
same time, read simply: "Report Depart-
ment alerted to prevent sabotage." This
clear indication of confusion in Hawaii
went unnoticed in the Munitions Build-
ing. To General Marshall and his chief
aides Hawaii was the only base "reason-
ably well equipped," its commanders had
been fully alerted, and they "felt reason-
ably secure at that one point." Their
eyes were focused on the Philippines and
Southeast Asia. 19

The Die is Cast

The day 29 November, the deadline
set by the Japanese, found the force
scheduled to attack Pearl Harbor already
on its way and elements of the Southern
Army assembling for their various tasks.
Since Hull's note of the 26th — which a
Liaison Conference had summarily re-
jected the next day — it had been clear
to the Japanese leaders that no agree-
ment was possible. But a few more days
were needed, so on the 28th Nomura
and Kurusu were instructed to do their
best to keep the conversations open.
The next day the council of senior
statesmen met with members of the Cab-

inet. Tojo presented the Cabinet view
for war, but several of the senior states-
men expressed doubts about the wisdom
of a war with the United States. Prince
Konoye asked why it was not possible
to continue "with broken economic rela-
tions but without war," to which Tojo
replied that the final consequence of
such a course would be "gradual impov-
erishment." 20 Later that day, the same
group met with the Emperor, and each
man presented his views.

The Liaison Conference, which met
in Tokyo at the Imperial Palace on 29
November 1941, was the conference at
which the final details for the opening
of hostilities were decided. Agreement
was reached on the form and substance
of a note to the United States which, in
effect, would end the negotiations. The
conferees agreed that a declaration of
war would not be necessary. The timing
of the note to be delivered in Washing-
ton was discussed, and it was finally
decided to allow the Army and Navy to
fix the interval between the delivery of
the note and the opening of the attack. 21

The decisions of the Liaison Confer-
ence were formalized and sanctioned by
the Imperial Conference on 1 December.
Tojo, who presided at this meeting,
explained the purpose of the conference,
and then the Cabinet ministers and the
Chiefs of Staff discussed the question of
war with the United States, Great Brit-

"Rads, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 1004, 28 Nov
41, OCS 18136-118; Short to Marshall, 27 Nov 41,
WPD 4544-13. For testimony of Generals Marshall
and Gerow on this question, see Pearl Harbor Attack
Hearings, pt. g, pp. 1036, 1423; pt. 27, p. 2191; Pearl
Harbor Report, pp. igo-51.

20 Konoye Memoirs, Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings,
pt. 20, p. 4012.

"IMTTE, exhibits 2954 and 2955, Depositions of
Tojo and Togo. On 4 December, Admiral Ito, Vice
Chief of the Navy General Staff, conferred with Mr.
Togo, Foreign Minister, in regard to the time inter-
val between the delivery of the note and the opening
of the attack. The Navy at first insisted on a 15-
minute interval, but finally agreed to thirty minutes.
Statement by Rear Adm. Tomioka, then Chief of
the Operational Section, Navy General Staff.

122

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

ain, and the Netherlands. The decision
was in favor of war. "Our negotiations
with the United States regarding the
execution of our national policy, adopted
5 November, have finally failed," reads
the record of the meeting. "Japan will
open hostilities against the United States,
Great Britain, and the Netherlands."
The Emperor spoke not a single word
during the meeting. 22

All was in readiness; only the date
for the start of war remained to be fixed
and that was quickly decided. The 8th
of December (Japanese Standard Time)
was the date selected and on the 2d the
Army and Navy Chiefs passed the infor-
mation on to the forces already moving
into position for attack. But on the slim
chance that by a miracle the United
States would agree to the Japanese terms,
the naval Chief of Staff added that should
an amicable settlement be reached "all
forces of the Combined Fleet are to be
ordered to reassemble and return to
their bases." From Admiral Yamamoto's
flagship went the message Niitaka Yama
Nobore 1208 (Climb Mount Niitaka
1208) , the prearranged signal to carry
out the attacks as scheduled. 23

Various considerations underlay the
choice of date and the decision to strike
without warning. Both the Army and
Navy held that delay would be disastrous
and that surprise was an essential pre-
requisite to the success of the plan. The
Navy, moreover, feared that America's
potential naval superiority would, by

^IMTFE exhibit 588, Doc. 1652, Record of Im-
perial Conferences.

^These messages are reproduced in USSBS, The
Campaigns of the Pacific War (Washington, 1946),
p. 51; Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. gj.
The message went out to all Navy forces at 1730^ s
December, as Combined Fleet Radio Operational
Order 6.

March 1942, make the execution of the
Japanese plan extremely hazardous, if
not impossible. The Army was anxious
to start operations immediately, to pre-
vent the United States and Great Brit-
ain from completing preparations in the
Philippines and Malaya. Weather was
a decisive consideration also. December
and January were favorable months for
amphibious operations, with the tide
and moon in favor of landings. Sunday
morning was selected with a full knowl-
edge of American weekend activities. 24

The first week of December 1941 was
one of strain and nervous tension in
Tokyo and of suspense and somber
watchfulness in Washington. The signs
of an early break were too clear to be
missed by those who could read the
intercepted Japanese messages and intel-
ligence reports. Nomura and Kurusu
saw Hull several times, but both sides
knew nothing could come of these meet-
ings. On the 4 th, Thursday, Congress
adjourned for a long weekend. Next day
the Japanese Embassy staff began to leave
Washington and Nomura reported the
partial destruction of codes.

On 6 December, President Roosevelt
composed a last-minute plea for peace
to the Emperor. On the same day a
Liaison Conference in Tokyo approved
the decision to have Nomura deliver
Japan's final note at 1300 the next day,
thirty minutes before the scheduled
launching of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
This note, in fourteen parts, began to
arrive in Washington later in the day.
Thirteen of the fourteen parts of the
message were in American hands that
night, together with reports of two large

"Hist of Army Sec, Imperial GHQ, Japanese
Studies in World War II, 72, p. 36; IMTFE, exhibit
3646, Deposition of Togo.

THE DECISION FOR WAR

12?

Japanese convoys off Indochina, headed
south. Unidentified aircraft, presum-
ably Japanese, had been observed over
Luzon where by this time a full air alert
was in effect and where the troops had
already moved into defensive positions
along the beaches. In Manila, Admiral
Sir Tom Phillips, commander of the
British Far Eastern Fleet, was just leav-
ing for his flagship Prince of Wales after
concluding arrangements with Hart and
MacArthur for concerted naval action
in the event of an attack. From Hawaii
came a reassuring message that work on
the South Pacific ferry route was pro-
gressing satisfactorily. Fourteen B-17's
left San Francisco that night for Oahu,
after a personal inspection by Maj. Gen.
Henry H. Arnold, on the first leg of
their run to the Philippines. Their
ground crews were already on the high
seas in a heavily loaded convoy of seven
vessels carrying aircraft, artillery, am-
munition, fuel, men, and supplies to
General MacArthur.

That same day, 6 December, Japanese
forces were rapidly approaching their
various destinations. The Pearl Harbor
force after a voyage across the North
Pacific was heading southeast and at
2300 (Washington time) was about 600
miles north of Oahu. On Formosa air-
fields the planes for the attack on Clark
Field were lined up, and the troops
scheduled to seize advance airfields in
the Philippines had already left staging
areas in Formosa and the Pescadores.
The invasion force for Guam was in
position fifty miles north, on the island
of Rota, and the Wake force stood ready
at Kwajalein. Advance units of the Japa-
nese 25th Army had left Hainan in two
convoys on 4 December on their way
to Malaya and on the 6th were nearing

southern Thailand and Kota Bharu in
British Malaya.

On the morning of the 7th, Sunday,
the fourteenth and last part of the final
Japanese note was intercepted and de-
coded. The War Department had its
copy by about ogoo. Though it did not
indicate when or where war would start,
its intent was clear. A short time later
two additional messages were inter-
cepted. Taken with the 14-part note
breaking off the negotiations, they were
starkly revealing. One instructed the
Japanese ambassador to destroy the code
machines and secret documents; the
other to deliver the 14-part message at
1 300 (Washington time) . At 1 030 that
morning Stimson and Knox went to
Hull's office where they were closeted
for well over an hour and at 1230 the
President received the Chinese Ambas-
sador to whom he read his note of the
day before to the Emperor. "This is,"
he told Hu Shih, "my last effort for
peace. I am afraid it may fail." 25

General Marshall spent Sunday morn-
ing on the bridle path and reached his
office before 1 100. The intercepted mes-
sage giving the 1300 deadline (0730
Hawaiian time) for delivery of the
14-part note struck him as significant
and he suggested to Admiral Stark that
an additional warning be sent to the
Pacific. He then composed a message to
the commanders in Hawaii, the Philip-
pines, Panama, and San Francisco telling
them that the Japanese were destroying
their coding machines and would pre-
sent at 1300 "what amounts to an ulti-
matum." "Just what significance the
hour set may have," he added, "we do
not know, but be on alert accordingly."

"Feis, The Road to Pearl Harbor, p. 340.

124

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Declining an offer from Admiral Stark
for the use of the Navy's radio, Marshall
turned the message over to an officer
for transmission over the Army's net-
work and was assured shortly before
noon that it would be delivered in thirty
minutes. By a series of ironical circum-
stances and unexpected delays the mes-
sage to Hawaii was in turn entrusted to
commercial telegraph and radio and then
to a bicycle messenger who, on his way
from Honolulu to Fort Shatter, was
caught in the attack with his still
encoded message. 26

President Roosevelt's personal note to
the Emperor reached Tokyo at noon of
the 7 th (Tokyo time) , but was not
delivered to Ambassador Grew until
2100 that night. Shortly after midnight
(about 1100 of the 7th, Washington
time) , he called on the Foreign Minis-
ter to request an audience with the
Emperor, but Togo said he would de-
liver the message himself. Meanwhile
Ambassador Nomura had made an
appointment to see Mr. Hull at 1345.
He and Kurusu arrived at the State
Department a half hour late and were
admitted to Hull's office at 1420, only
a few minutes after the Secretary had
received a telephone call from the Presi-
dent telling him of the attack on Pearl
Harbor. The Japanese emissaries
handed the secretary the 14-part note,
which he already had on his desk. "In
all my fifty years of public service," he
said with feeling, "I have never seen a
document that was more crowded with
infamous falsehoods and distortions —
infamous falsehoods and distortions on
a scale so huge that I never imagined
until today that any Government on this

'Pearl Harbor Report, pp. 819-28.

planet was capable of uttering them." 27
The Japanese left without making any
comment.

In Tokyo, Ambassador Grew received
from Foreign Minister Togo the Japa-
nese note breaking off the negotiations
about four hours later (approximately
0800, Tokyo time) . Later that morning,
after Japanese bombs had fallen on
Hawaii, Guam, and Wake, after Japa-
nese forces had attacked the Philippines,
Hong Kong, and Shanghai, and Japa-
nese troops had landed in Malaya, Mr.
Grew received an announcement that a
state of war existed between Japan and
the United States. Around noon, Pre-
mier Tojo read to "a stunned and silent
nation" the Imperial Rescript declaring
war. The broadcast closed on the martial
strains of "Umi Yukaba":
Across the sea, corpses in the water;
Across the mountain, corpses in the field;
I shall die only for the Emperor,
I shall never look back. 28

Conclusion

From the vantage point of hindsight,
Japan's decision to go to war appears
as a supreme act of folly. By this deci-
sion, the Japanese leaders appear to have
deliberately committed their country to
a hopeless struggle against a coalition
vastly superior in potential industrial
and military strength. The Pearl Har-
bor attack, which brought the United
States into the war, has been character-
ized as politically "disastrous" and stra-
tegically "idiotic." "One can search
military history in vain," writes the
historian of naval operations in World

" Pearl Harbor Report, p. 41.

"Japanese Opns in Southwest Pacific Area, Hist
series II, p. 41, OCMH.

THE DECISION FOR WAR

125

War II, "for an operation more fatal
to the aggressor." 29

To the Japanese the decision to go
to war was a difficult choice, made only
under the greatest necessity and with an
awareness of the danger involved. But,
after calculating all the risks, the Japa-
nese believed they had a fair chance
of success. They fully appreciated the
industrial potential of the United States
and that nation's ability to fight a major
war on two fronts. But they had to
accept this risk, as General Tojo said,
"in order to tide over the present crisis
for self- existence and self-defense." 30
They recognized, too, that victory would
have to be won quickly and that the
longer the war lasted the more disadvan-
tageous would Japan's position vis-a-vis
the United States become. Their plans
provided for such a victory, but made
no provision for the defeat of the United
States or Great Britain. The Japanese
intended to fight a limited war for lim-
ited objectives and having once secured
these objectives they planned to set up
a defense in such depth and of such
strength that the Allies would prefer
a settlement to the long and costly war
that would be required to reduce these

"Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 132.
Admiral Stark later recalled a conversation with
Nomura, to whom he said, prophetically: "If you
attack us we will break your empire before we are
through with you. While you may have initial success
due to timing and surprise, the time will come when
you too will have your losses but there will be this
great difference. You not only will be unable to make
up your losses but will grow weaker as time goes on;
while on the other hand we not only will make up
our losses but will grow stronger as time goes on. It
is inevitable that we shall crush you before we are
through with you." Nomura made no reply. Ltr,
Stark to Hoover, 5 Aug 59, OCMH.

"Political Strategy Prior to Outbreak of War,
Japanese Studies in World War II, 150, p. 37.

Kurusu and Nomura in Washington,
December 1941.

defenses. To the Japanese leaders, this
seemed an entirely reasonable view.

Perhaps the major error of the Japa-
nese was their decision to attack the
United States when the main objective
of the war was to gain the strategic
resources of Southeast Asia. Had they
bypassed the Philippines and rejected
Yamamoto's plan for the strike against
Pearl Harbor, it is possible that the
United States might not have gone to
war, or, if it had, that the American
people would have been more favorably
disposed toward a negotiated peace.
While the Japanese would have had to
accept certain risks in following such a
course, they would not have forced the
United States to declare war. The Presi-
dent and his chief advisers were prepared
to ask Congress for a declaration of war
if Japan attacked Great Britain. The

126

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Japanese knew this, but they did not
know, or seriously miscalculated, the
strength of isolationist sentiment in the
United States. To a large part of the
American people, a war with Japan over
Malaya or the Netherlands Indies would
have appeared as an effort to pull Brit-
ish and Dutch chestnuts out of the fire.
Such a war would have split the country
and made difficult the full mobilization
of American and industrial might. "I
don't know," Hull remarked later to
Admiral Stark, "whether we would have
been in the war yet if Japan had not
attacked us." 31

The United States Government was in
a difficult position in the winter of 1941.
It was committed to a major effort in
the Atlantic and the support of the Brit-
ish Isles but had drawn a line in the
Far East beyond which it would not
permit Japan to go. At the same time,
it was preparing for offensive operations
against Japan, preparations that would
be completed within several months.
Had Japan, without abandoning its aims
in Southeast Asia, sedulously avoided any
overt act against the United States — a
course that was debated in Tokyo until
the end of November — the administra-
tion would have been faced with a dis-
tasteful choice: (1) to declare war
against Japan and risk an unpopular
war, or (2) to stand idly by while the
Japanese secured the rich resources of
Malaya and the Indies which would
enable them to push the war in China.
The Japanese, by attacking Pearl Har-
bor, made a choice unnecessary and uni-
fied the American people as nothing else
could have done. "Like Adam and Eve,"
says the British military historian, Maj,

Gen. John F. C. Fuller, "the Americans
discovered they were naked. Their eyes
were most unexpectedly opened, and
they suddenly realized that they had been
living in a fool's paradise. . . ." 32

The Japanese placed great reliance
for the success of their plans on the
situation in Europe. Even if Germany
did not defeat England or Soviet Russia
they thought there was little possibility
of peace. They did not expect an early
invasion of England, but did anticipate
that Germany would establish control
of the European continent in the near
future. And even if Germany did not
defeat England or the Soviet Union,
both those nations would be too pre-
occupied to make a major effort in the
Far East. The possibility of Soviet action
in Manchuria or American use of Soviet
bases in Asia was not discounted and
provision was made in the plan for either
contingency. But such action, it was
believed, would not come until after
the southern area had been seized.

M Ltr, Stark to Hoover, 5 Aug 59, OCMH.

"Maj. Gen. J. F. C. Fuller, The Second World War,
1939-194} (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1949),
p. 133. Evidence on public opinion is not conclusive.
A Gallup poll reported in the New York Times for
23 February 1941 found that although 56 percent of
those polled were in favor of an effort "to keep Japan
from seizing the Dutch East Indies and Singapore,"
only 39 percent supported risking war in such an
attempt. Again, in August 1941, a Fortune poll
showed that 33.7 percent of those polled were in
favor of defending the Philippines, East Indies, and
Australia, and only 82.3 percent favored the defense
of an unspecified portion of this area. The conclusion
of John W. Masland, writing in 1941, was that "pow-
erful commercial interests and articulate isolationist
pressure groups" opposed American opposition of
Japan. John W. Masland, "American Attitudes To-
ward Japan," Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science (May 1941), p. 165. See
also Public Opinion, 1915-1946, prepared by Mildred
Strunk under editorial direction of Hadley Contril
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1951),
p. 1077, items 33-35, 3 8 < 39-

THE DECISION FOR WAR

127

Considering the alternatives, the inter-
national situation in the fall of 1941,
and the risks, the Japanese plan was not
altogether as unrealistic as it has ap-
peared to many. The seizure of South-
east Asia and the time allotted did not
seem too difficult, and with the resources
of this area the Japanese believed they
could wage a defensive war along their
outer perimeter for a long time. Cer-
tainly this course, even with its risks,
was preferable from their point of view
to submission.

In the view of the leaders of Japan,
there was no honorable choice but war.

The United States and Great Britain,
they were convinced, were bent on de-
stroying Japan or reducing it to a minor
power. Submission was unthinkable and
Japan had no alternative, "but to reso-
lutely plunge into war" while it still had
the power to do so. The nation entered
the war, wrote a prince of the Imperial
family, "with a tragic determination and
in desperate self-abandonment." If it
lost, "there will be nothing to regret
because she is doomed to collapse even
without war." 33

"Statement of Prince Higashikuni, 9 Jun 49, ATIS,
G-a FEC, copy in OCMH.

PART TWO

THE DEFENSIVE: PEARL HARBOR
TO MIDWAY

With broken heart and head bowed in sadness but not in shame,
I report to your Excellency that today I must arrange terms for the
surrender of the fortified islands of Manila Bay. . . . With profound
regret and with continued pride in my gallant troops, I go to meet the
Japanese commander.

General Wainwright to President Roosevelt, 6 May 1942

Why, victor, dost thou exult? The victory will be your ruin.

Ovid

CHAPTER VI

The First Weeks of War, 7—26 December

Mars, unscrupulous god of war, rages throughout the world.

Vergil

When the Japanese opened hostilities
in the Pacific they struck with such dra-
matic suddenness, at so many points,
and over so vast an area that the Ameri-
cans, whose eyes were fixed on the Phil-
ippines and Southeast Asia, were taken
completely by surprise. Almost simul-
taneously the Japanese attacked Hawaii,
the Philippines, Wake, Guam, Singapore,
Hong Kong, Malaya and Thailand. All
these assaults, even the one against Pearl
Harbor, had been foreseen but no one
had anticipated that they would all be
made at once, on the first day of war.

The Japanese Offensive: First Phase

In the Japanese plan for war, the
5-month period allotted to the seizure
of the southern area, supporting opera-
tions, and the capture of positions nec-
essary to establish a strong defensive
perimeter was divided into three phases.
The first phase consisted of six separate
and widely scattered operations, synchro-
nized to obtain the maximum advantage
of surprise, and timed to begin simulta-
neously on the date set for war. On that
day Japanese forces would launch the
attack on Pearl Harbor to destroy or
neutralize the U.S. Pacific Fleet; cut the
line of communications to the Philip-

pines by occupying Guam, Wake, and
the Gilberts; destroy American air power
in the Philippines to remove the threat
to their own right flank and as a prelude
to the invasion of the islands; occupy
Thailand to secure a base for operations
against Malaya and Burma; land in
northern Malaya and on the Isthmus of
Kra to begin the drive toward Singapore
off the base of the Malaya Peninsula;
and take over the British outpost at

Hong Kong. (Map I)

The force assigned to the Pearl Harbor
attack — 4 heavy and 2 light carriers sup-
ported by 2 fast battleships, 2 heavy
cruisers, a destroyer squadron, subma-
rines, tankers, and supply ships — left the
assembly area in Tankan Bay in the des-
olate, snowbound Kurils on 26 Novem-
ber, Tokyo time. Following a northerly
route across the Pacific, well off the
shipping lanes and beyond the range of
patrol planes from Wake and Midway,
Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo took his
formidable fleet eastward through fog
and rough sea and early on the 4th of
December, after the weather had mod-
erated sufficiently to permit refueling,
reached a point about 900 miles north
of Midway. There the fleet turned south-
east until it was about 500 miles north
of Oahu. Then it shifted course due

132

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

south for the final run to the target at
a speed of twenty-four knots. It was now
2100 of the 6th, Hawaiian time (1700 of
the 7th Tokyo time) . In less than nine
hours, just before 0600 of the 7th, the
carriers had reached their launching
point some 200 miles north of Oahu,
having come 3,000 miles across the
Pacific, much of it by dead reckoning,
without detection. Immediately the
heavy cruisers sent up four reconnais-
sance planes. Except for the richest
prize, the three carriers and their escort,
the entire Pacific Fleet was in port. 1

It was still dark when the Japanese
pilots, cheered by shouts of "Banzai"
from their comrades, took off from the
carriers. The first wave of 183 planes
was formed and headed for Oahu by
0615, to be followed an hour later by
a second wave of 167 planes. Already
a force consisting of Japan's most mod-
ern submarines, based on Kwajalein in
the Marshalls, had taken up positions
covering the entrance to Pearl Harbor,
and five midget submarines were mak-
ing their way toward the open submarine
net.

Flying at g.ooo feet, above a dense
but broken layer of clouds, into a mag-
nificent sunrise, the first wave of aircraft
reached Oahu, "still asleep in the morn-
ing mist," at 0750. Part of the formation
headed for the Army's Wheeler and
Hickam airfields; the rest for the fleet
anchorage at Ford Island. Five minutes
later, after at least three of the midget
submarines had penetrated into the har-

1 The account which follows is based on Japanese
Opns in SWPA, pp. 68-71; Japan's Decision to Fight,
ATIS Research Rpt No. 131; Morison, The Rising
Sun in the Pacific, pp. 8 8-qh; Craven and Cate, AAF
I, pp. 194— aoi; Morton,
pp. 78-79.

The Fall of the Philippines,

bor, the Japanese planes dropped their
first bombs.

The next two hours of that Sabbath
morning on Oahu, where all attention
up to then had been focused on the
possibility pf sabotage, were a nightmare.
Bombs and torpedoes dropped every-
where, on ships in the harbor, on Army
installations, on depots, and other tar-
gets. Dive bombers machine-gunned
parked planes and the ground crews
rushed pell-mell to their battle stations.
Within a half hour almost all the great
ships lined up in "Battleship Row" had
been hit. Oklahoma capsized, West Vir-
ginia sank, Arizona was aflame, and Cali-
fornia was going down. Hickam and
Wheeler Fields, hit in the first attack,
suffered badly. The Army planes, parked
in close order, wing tip to wing tip,
were perfect targets.

By 1000 the raid was over and the
Japanese planes were heading north to-
ward the carriers. Thr,ee hours later the
carriers were speeding away to the north-
west, still undetected, leaving behind
them on Oahu death and destruction.
Some of the submarines remained in
Hawaiian waters until early January, a
few venturing as far as the west coast,
to report on the movements of the
Pacific Fleet and to attack American
shipping.

The results achieved by the raid were
a complete vindication of Admiral Yama-
moto, originator of the plan. The Japa-
nese pilots had studied their charts and
intelligence reports well and knew ex-
actly what to go after. Though there
were 94 naval vessels in the harbor, they
concentrated on the battle force of the
Pacific Fleet, sinking or putting out of
action in less than two hours 8 battle-
ships, 3 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, and

THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR, 7-26 DECEMBER

133

a number of auxiliary vessels. They
also destroyed 92 naval planes and dam-
aged 31 more. The Army lost a total
of 96 aircraft, including those destroyed
in depots and those later cannibalized.
American casualties for the day were
2,403 men killed and 1,178 wounded,
most of them naval personnel. 2

Despite the enormous damage they
wrought, the Japanese had failed to take
full advantage of their opportunity. For
some unaccountable reason they over-
looked entirely the installations at Pearl,
the repair shops, the dry dock, and the
oil tanks then filled to capacity. And
even less understandable is their failure
to seek out and destroy the American
carriers at sea, which, with the cruisers,
destroyers, and submarines, constituted
an effective striking force. Both these
failures cost the Japanese dearly later,
but for the moment they had good rea-
son to rejoice. With the loss of only
about fifty planes and five midget sub-
marines, they had inflicted on the United
States what an official Congressional re-
port described as "the greatest military
and naval disaster" in the nation's
history. 3

While Admiral Nagumo's carrier-
based planes were immobilizing the U.S.
Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, other Japa-

'Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 126.
These figures are revised estimates and are slightly
higher than those given in Pearl Harbor Report, pp.
64—65. Other figures are used in Stetson Conn, Rose
C. Engelman, and Byron Fairchild, Guarding the
United States and Its Outposts, ch. VII, a volume
now in preparation for the series UNITED STATES
ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. The reader should
consult this work for a fuller treatment of the Army's
role in the Pearl Harbor attack.

3 Pear! Harbor Report, p. 65. Admiral Stark wrote
later, "Had the Japs devoted some of their attack to
our shops, oil storage, etc. — it would have been a lot
rougher going for a considerable period." Ltr, Stark
to Hoover, 5 Aug 59, OCMH.

nese forces were moving to cut the
American line of communications to the
Philippines and to knock out General
MacArthur's air force. Planes from
Saipan hit Guam shortly after the Pearl
Harbor attack, and at about the same
time planes based on Kwajalein began
the bombardment of Wake. These at-
tacks marked the opening of softening-
up operations which continued for two
days and on the 10th the invasion force
moved up. Against Guam, Vice Adm.
Shigeyoshi Inouye, commander of the
Fourth Fleet, sent the Army's South Seas
Detachment plus supporting naval units,
all together about 5,000 men. Landing
before dawn on the northwestern and
eastern shores of Guam, this force
quickly overcame the small Marine gar-
rison and the native police and gained
possession of the island in a matter of
hours. That same day, the Japanese also
occupied Makin and Tarawa in the
British-held Gilbert Islands without
resistance.

At Wake, where the defenders were
more numerous and better prepared, the
Japanese sent a smaller force and with
quite different results. Led by Maj.
James P. S. Devereux, the marines, on
the morning of the 10th, beat off the
first landing attempt by about 500 spe-
cial naval landing troops. The weak
Japanese force, less two destroyers sunk
by Marine aircraft, withdrew to Kwa-
jalein to await reinforcements and was
back on the 2 2d with 500 more men and
additional naval and air support, in-
cluding two carriers diverted from the
retiring Pearl Harbor force. Early the
next morning the Japanese landed and
before the day was over the garrison,
after a bitter resistance, was forced to
surrender. A naval expedition, sent to

134

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

"Banzai!" Japanese sailors cheer the Pearl Harbor attack force as the airplanes take off from
a carrier, 7 December 1941.

relieve the island, had approached to
within 425 miles of Wake by the morn-
ing of 23 December. But when news of
the surrender reached Hawaii, it was
ordered to return to Pearl Harbor, to
the bitter disappointment of the Marine
aviators aboard the Saratoga. With the
capture of Wake the Japanese gained
control of the line of communication
across the Central Pacific. 4

As at Pearl Harbor, the keynote to the
Japanese attack against the Philippines
was surprise. The first aim was to de-

4 Heinl, The Defense of Wake; Morison, The
Rising Sun in the Pacific, pp. 184-86. A Japanese
account of these actions is contained in Japanese
Opns in SWPA, p. 71; a fuller account of the Guam
action is in Opns of the South Seas Detachment,
Japanese Studies in World War II, 36.

stroy the Far East Air Force, then land
advance units to build airstrips for the
short-range Army fighters which would
cover the landing and subsequent opera-
tions of the main invasion force when it
came ashore later. The task of conquer-
ing the Philippines was assigned to Lt.
Gen. Masaharu Homma's 14th Army;
naval support would be provided by the
3d Fleet assisted by elements of the 2d
Fleet; air support, by the <jth Air Group
and nth Air Fleet. The main staging
area for the invasion force was Formosa,
but units staged from the Ryukyus,
Pescadores, and Palau as well. Naval air-
craft of the nth Air Fleet based on For-
mosa were to deliver the main attack on
American air installations in central

THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR, 7-26 DECEMBER

135

Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941

Luzon and Army aircraft, which had a
shorter range, would strike targets to the
north. 5

The opening air offensive was planned
for daylight of the 8th — the 7th east of
the date line — about three hours after
the raid on Pearl Harbor. Simultaneous
action was impossible, for the sun rose
earlier in Hawaii. But even this plan
for a 3-hour delay went awry, for at
dawn of the 8th dense clouds of heavy
fog blanketed the Formosa airfields. The
Japanese were filled with dismay. As the
early morning hours rolled by, their
anxiety increased. The Americans, they

"For a full account of this plan and of the events
which follow ed, see Morton, The Fall of the Philip-
pines jch. \,\ passim.

were sure, would by now have news of
the Pearl Harbor raid and would have
taken precautions against air attack.
Even more frightening was the possibil-
ity that this delay would enable the
heavy bombers of the Far East Air Force
to attack Formosa. Indeed, after an
erroneous report and a misunderstood
radio message, the alarmed Japanese
began passing out gas masks.

News of the Pearl Harbor attack had
indeed reached Manila, as the Japanese
feared. The Navy radio picked up the
message announcing the raid at 0230 of
the 8th (0800, 7 December, Hawaiian
time) , and within two hours all com-
manders had been alerted and troops
ordered to battle positions. At about

136

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

0500, Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, com-
mander of the Far East Air Force, was
waiting outside MacArthur's office for
permission to send his B-17's, half of
which had been moved south to Del
Monte airfield in Mindanao, against
Formosa. The events which followed
have been obscured by the conflicting
statements of the several participants,
but this much is clear: (1) That an at-
tack against Formosa was proposed; (2)
that it was deferred in favor of a photo
reconnaissance mission; (3) that at about
1100 the strike against Formosa was
finally authorized; and (4) that the
heavy bombers at Clark Field, which
had been ordered aloft at about 0800
were called in to make ready for the raid
on Formosa. 8

Despite the fog a few Japanese Army
aircraft had taken off from Formosa and
bombed targets in northern Luzon be-
tween 0930 and 1030. Finally at 1015,
as the fog began to lift, the nth Air
Fleet sent its planes out for the attack
on Clark Field. The assignment was an
important one and the pilots of the 192
aircraft assigned to the mission were the
best and most experienced men availa-
ble. They arrived over the target at
about 1220 to find the B-17's lined up
on the field below and the fighters
readying for a take-off. After the delay
in getting started and the lapse of time
since the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japa-
nese had not expected to find so rich a
harvest. But they did not question their
good fortune and went in for the attack.

The raid lasted for more than an
hour, the first flights concentrating on

"A full account of the events preceding the attack
on Clark Field c an be found in Morton, The Fall of
the Philippines ,1 pp, 79-84. I

the hangars, barracks, and warehouses.
The greatest casualties were inflicted by
the low-level attacks of the Zeros, which
destroyed and damaged 17 or 18 B-17's
and 18 P-40's — almost the entire force
based at Clark — on the ground. Casu-
alties were fifty-five killed and more
than a hundred wounded. Japanese
losses could not have been more than six
fighters. The two squadrons of B-i7*s
which had been transferred to the Del
Monte airfield in Mindanao escaped the
attack.

Simultaneously with the raid on Clark
Field the Japanese struck the fighter base
at Iba, to the west, destroying all but two
of the P-40's there as well as the radar
station, barracks, warehouses, and equip-
ment. Before dawn the next day they
hit Nichols Field near Manila, and on
the 10th the naval yard at Cavite, which
they practically destroyed. Thus, in two
days and with insignificant casualties the
Japanese virtually wiped out America's
air power in the Far East and removed
the threat to the flank of their advances
southward.

At the start of war most of the surface
strength of the small U.S. Asiatic Fleet
was based south of Manila Bay, in the
Visayas. By evening of the 8th, the
fleet, except for the submarines and
auxiliary craft, was steaming south out
of Philippine waters. On the 14th, Pa-
trol Wing 10 and three tenders followed,
and two days later the remaining B-17's
flew from Mindanao to Darwin in
northwest Australia.

The Japanese began their landings in
the Philippines on the first day of war on
Batan Island, 150 miles north of Luzon.
On the 10th, they made two more land-
ings, one at Aparri and one at Vigan, in
northern Luzon, and two days later more

148

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The Philippines

The shift in focus of interest from Ha-
waii to the western Pacific evidenced by
the higher priority given Australia and
the Philippines on 24 December was the
culmination of a dispute that had begun
on the first day of war. The issue had
been raised by the necessity for deciding
the fate of a convoy of seven ships, es-
corted by the cruiser Pensacola and
carrying men and munitions to Manila
via the South Pacific route. The Navy
had, on the 8th, ordered the Pensacola
convoy to put in at Suva in the Fijis
to await further orders, and on the gth,
at a meeting of the Joint Board, pro-
posed that the ships be brought back to
Hawaii to reinforce that badly battered
garrison. The Army members of the
board, notably General Gerow, support-
ed this view and suggested further that
a portion of the convoy might be re-
turned to the United States. Following
discussion the board agreed that the
convoy should be ordered back to
Hawaii. General Marshall concurred
without comment. 34

This decision of the Joint Board rep-
resented virtually the abandonment of
the Philippines. There was ample prec-
edent for such a policy in the prewar
studies of the planners, approved by the
Joint Board, demonstrating that the
Philippines could not be held in the face
of a determined Japanese attack. But
between July and December 1941 there
had been a reversal of that view and the
inauguration of a large-scale program of

"Mins, JB Mtg, 8 and 9 Dec 41. In the convoy was
a field artillery brigade, eighteen P-40S, fifty-two
A— !4's, a large quantity of ammunition and miscel-
laneous equipment, many vehicles and about 5,000
troop*. Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 776, is
Dec 41, WPD 4648.

reinforcements designed to make the
islands strong enough to resist invasion.
The program was still incomplete when
war came and it was evident at once that
the defense of the islands had become,
as Secretary Stimson wrote, "once more
the desperate and losing struggle which
had been forecast in the planning of
earlier years." 35

Though the action of the Joint Board
in ordering the Pensacola convoy back
to Hawaii may have been necessary for
military reasons, it overlooked the moral,
psychological, and political considera-
tions which affected the attitude of
America toward the Philippines and its
position in the Far East. Though these
considerations were not, perhaps, strictly
within the province of the Army and
Navy planners, their existence and po-
tential importance had been recognized
in some of the early studies. As late as
December 1940 the two service Secre-
taries and the President had approved a
Joint Board study that made the point
that in the event of war with Germany
and Japan, the decision to make the
main effort in the Atlantic initially
might well be endangered "should Japa-
nese success seem imminent." Public
opinion, the board had suggested then,
might lead to heavy pressure "to support
the forces engaged in the Far East instead
of leaving them to their fate" and result
in stronger effort in that area than pro-
vided for in the plans. 36

Though no war plans that took into
full account the moral and political fac-
tors of the situation in the Far East were
ever made, it was these factors that ulti-
mately decided the strategy of the United

"Stimson and Bundy, On Active Service, p. 395.
"Memo, CNO for CofS, 15 Dec 41, Incl: Extract
from JB 335, ser. 670, 21 Dec 40, WPD 4561—10.

138

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The success of the Japanese at Pearl
Harbor, in the Philippines, and in
China was, in a sense, meaningless with-
out similar successes in the principal
theater of operations, Southeast Asia. It
was there that the strategic resources
Japan needed so badly were and it was
there that the Japanese concentrated
their main strength — three armies, with
supporting air and naval forces. Malaya
and Singapore were to be taken by Lt.
Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita's 2j,th Army;
the Netherlands Indies by the 16th
Army, and Burma by the 15th. The 3d
Air Group, based in south China and
northern Indochina, and the Southern
Expeditionary Fleet were to support the
forces in Malaya.

Advance units of the 25th Army left
Hainan Island on 4 December and on
the morning of the 8th began landing at
Singora and Pattani in southern Thai-
land, and at Kota Bharu, just across the
border, in British Malaya. At the same
time Japanese aircraft in Indochina
bombed military installations in Singa-
pore. The first two landings were unop-
posed, and even assisted by local Thai
authorities, but the Kota Bharu force
came under strong attack from British
aircraft and beach defense guns and
withdrew with heavy losses. Later in the
day, with stronger air protection, the
Japanese tried again and this time suc-
ceeded in establishing a beachhead. On
the evening of the gth, the main body of
the 25th Army began to arrive, and next
day Japanese land-based naval aircraft
removed the last danger to the beach-
head by sinking the Prince of Wales and
Repulse, which had ventured forth from
Singapore without air cover. The loss

of these two warships signaled the end
of British naval power in the Far East.

With the occupation of Singora,
Pattani, and Kota Bharu, General Yama-
shita was soon able to gain control of
the air over Malaya and close support
for his ground forces. Deployed in par-
allel columns along the east and west
coasts of the peninsula, the 2}th Army
began its drive toward Johore Bharu
just across the strait from Singapore. By
Christmas it was only 150 miles from its
objective.

While the campaign for Malaya was
moving forward rapidly, the Japanese
took steps to gain control over Thailand.
On the first day of war, elements of the
Imperial Guards Division, stationed in
Indochina and attached to the 15th
Army, moved across the border into
Thailand while other elements of the
division were landed at points along the
narrow Kra Isthmus. The Thailanders
offered no opposition and, after consoli-
dating their position the Japanese began
to assemble their forces in Thailand for
the invasion of Burma.

Japanese operations in Indonesia,
which in this phase included only the
seizure of positions in Borneo, met with
the same success as had operations else-
where. From Camranh Bay in French
Indochina came the force which made
the first landings in British Borneo.
Composed of three battalions of infantry
and special naval troops, covered by 1
carrier, 1 battleship, 3 cruisers, and 4
destroyers, this force embarked on 13
December and three days later landed
near Miri where it promptly occupied
an airstrip and seized the partially de-
stroyed oil fields. On the 24th it made

THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR, 7-26 DECEMBER

139

an amphibious hop to Kuching, capital
of Sarawak, a native state in northwest
Borneo ruled by a British rajah. 8

Their success in the opening weeks of
the war exceeded the expectations of
even the most optimistic Japanese lead-
ers. By Christmas they had achieved all
of the objectives outlined in their plan
for the first phase of the war and were
well on their way to completing the sec-
ond phase. Except for the temporary
setbacks at Wake and Kota Bharu, oper-
ations had proceeded with a smoothness
rare in war. American and British forces
everywhere had been decisively beaten
and were on the defensive; the safety of
the home islands was assured, and the
resources of Southeast Asia were within
grasp. Never were Japan's self-esteem
and its prestige in Asia so high; the
fortunes of the Allies so low.

The amazing success of the Japanese
can be attributed as much to the unpre-
paredness of the Allies and the sudden-
ness of the attack as to the superiority of
Japanese tactics, troops, and equipment.
By concentrating overwhelming air and
naval power for the attack and striking
with a swiftness that gained for them the
full advantage of surprise, they were
able to win their objectives with a min-
imum of losses. From each new base
they moved forward in the same manner,
always achieving local air and naval
supremacy before landing their troops.
They avoided direct assault against forti-

8 Operations in Malaya, Thailand, and Borneo are
described in Kirby, et al, The Loss of Singapore;
Japanese Opns in SWPA, pp. 72—75; Morison, The
Rising Sun in the Pacific, pp. 187—92; Despatches of
Lt Gen A. E. Percival and Air Chief Marshal Sir
Robert Brook-Popham in the Supplement to the
London Gazette, January 22 and February 26, 1948;
Borneo Opns, 1941—42, Japanese Studies in World
War II, 22; and 25th Army Opns in Malaya, same
series, 85.

fied positions, using flanking maneuvers
where possible. And when they could
not avoid direct assault they struck at
night and pushed on, regardless of loss.
Their first objectives were always air-
fields, and air power (land- and carrier-
based) dominated their operations
during these first weeks of war, as it
would dominate Allied operations later
in the war.

Meeting the Emergency

The first reaction in Washington to
Admiral Kimmel's message — "Air raid
on Pearl Harbor. This is not drill" —
received at 1350 of the 7th, was one of
surprise and shock. "My God," ex-
claimed Secretary Knox incredulously,
"this can't be true. This must mean the
Philippines." He immediately tele-
phoned the White House where Mr.
Roosevelt, who was lunching with Harry
Hopkins, remarked that "the Japanese
had made the decision for him." Hull
had the news before the Japanese Am-
bassadors arrived for their final meeting
and expressed himself, when they ap-
peared, in "pretty strong Tennessee
mountain language." Stimson, who re-
ceived the startling report a short time
later, was astonished that the Japanese
should have chosen Hawaii as "the point
of attack." 8

As soon as confirmation of the first
report was received by telephone from
Oahu, the Army and Navy put into ef-
fect their war plans. Messages went out
to all commanders informing them that
Japan had opened hostilities and
directing them to carry out the tasks

'Quotes are from Pearl Harbor Report, p. 439;
Stimson and Bundy, On Active Service, p. 391; Sher-
wood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, p. 431.

140

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

assigned in Rainbow 5, so far as they
pertained to Japan. In Hawaii there was
confusion over references to a warning
about a Japanese attack, and it was not
until 1500 that the confusion was re-
solved by the receipt of the long-delayed
message Marshall had sent shortly before
noon. 10 The command there made a
quick recovery from the attack and be-
fore the end of the day had instituted
martial law in the islands, taken stock
of its losses, and sent oft an urgent plea
for heavy bombers and fighters. 11

With the War Department's message
to General MacArthur invoking Rain-
bow 5 went assurances of confidence and
"every possible assistance and support
within our power." No word had been
received from the Philippines and when
this message failed to evoke any response
General Marshall sent still another ask-
ing whether the Philippines had yet
been attacked. Finally, General Gerow
was able to establish telephone commu-
nications with Manila and talk to Mac-
Arthur. He had known since about 0300
(Manila time) of the Pearl Harbor
raid, MacArthur said, but there had
been no attacks as yet and, he told
Gerow, "our tails are up." General
Arnold, too, talked by telephone with
his air commander in the Philippines,
General Brereton, and warned him spe-
cifically against a surprise Japanese at-
tack. 12 A short time later came news of
the Japanese attack against Clark Field.

10 Affidavit of Capt. William B. Cobb, cited in His-
tory of United States Army Forces, Middle Pacific
and Predecessor Commands During World War II
{hereafter cited as USAFMIDPAC Hist), pt. I, vol. 1,
p. 58, copy in OCMH.

"Rad, Short and Martin to TAG, No. 1068, 7 Dec
41, AG 381 (11-27-41 Gen) Far East.

"Rads, Marshall to MacArthur, Nos 736 and 737,
7 Dec 41, AG 381 (11-27-41 Gen) Far East; Record

That day and the next, more news, all
of it bad, continued to trickle into
Washington. The Japanese bombings
of Guam, Wake, Hong Kong, and Singa-
pore and their landings in Malaya and
Thailand were noted but without much
surprise. Most of these attacks had been
expected and none had the impact of
Pearl Harbor and Clark Field. What was
most alarming was the lack of informa-
tion on the size and location of the force
which had hit Pearl Harbor. For all
anyone knew it might return to Pearl
Harbor to bomb the installations over-
looked before. Or it might be on its way
to the Panama Canal or the unguarded
west coast of the United States. Seattle
had only one 3-inch gun and one auto-
matic weapons battery; San Francisco,
an antiaircraft brigade, and Los Angeles
a regiment — and all those cities and
many others were clamoring for more
protection. Hawaii needed more planes,
guns, and men; help would have to be
sent to General MacArthur; and Pan-
ama was too vital to be ignored. Be-
tween San Francisco and Hawaii were
three transports carrying men and sup-
plies and farther west was a large convoy
headed for Manila. All these problems
and many more had to be solved at once,
in an atmosphere of frenzied activity and
deep concern over where the blow would
fall next.

Complicating the task of commanders
in Washington and in the Pacific was
the inevitable flood of rumors and specu-
lations, some of which were given cred-
ence in the highest official circles.
Japanese aircraft were reported over Los
Angeles, San Francisco, and other west

of Tel Conv between Gerow and MacArthur, WPD
4622; Henry H. Arnold, Global Mission (New York:
Harper & Brothers, 1949), p. 272.

THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR, 7-26 DECEMBER

141

coast cities on the first day of war and
for days thereafter. Pilots mistook float-
ing logs for submarines and every vessel
for a Japanese carrier. On the day fol-
lowing Pearl Harbor there was an alert
in San Francisco and the schools in Oak-
land were closed on the basis of a report
that enemy carriers were off the coast of
California. Another report, which came
from the Chief of Staff, alerted the West-
ern Defense commander to the presence
of a hostile force believed to be only
400 miles away.

In HaAvaii, where "invasion fever" ran
high, the rumors were even wilder.
There were at least a dozen reports of
paratroop landings in different places
on the 7th, and Japanese voices were
heard constantly on short wave radio.
People saw flashing signal lights, flares,
swatches cut in sugar cane fields to form
arrows pointing at vital installations.
Word that the water supply of Hono-
lulu had been poisoned spread rapidly,
and Japanese landing parties were ob-
served at various points. The wildest
tales were believed. A truck that had
been delivering milk for months to
Hickam Field became, on the morning
of the 7th, a Japanese armored vehicle,
complete with troops and machine guns.
Japanese cars and trucks were supposed
to have deliberately created traffic jams
on the roads leading to military installa-
tions. Japanese pilots wore civilian
clothes, it was thought, so that they could
mingle with the civil population if they
were shot down. Finally, it was reliably
reported that on a specified kilocycle a
message — "Chopsticks, I don't want to set
the world on fire. Why can't it happen
again tonight" — was heard, and all prep-
arations were made for another attack on
Pearl Harbor.

The excitable Filipinos saw as many
specters as did the Hawaiians and Ameri-
cans. Many of the Japanese bombers
which hit Clark and Nichols Fields were
believed to be piloted by Caucasians —
presumably Germans. Arrows, like those
in the sugar fields of Oahu, but formed
by headlights, pointed at military tar-
gets; Japanese voices were heard over
short wave. There were reports, as in
Hawaii, of landings, of Japanese carriers
off the coast, of paratroopers, poisoned
water supply, and of active fifth colum-
nists. As elsewhere, these reports had
to be checked, and the staff kept busy
searching for the grain, of truth in the
wild rumors that came in over the
wires. 13

Matters of grand strategy required lit-
tle attention during the first days of the
war. There was no disagreement about
them, and they had little relevance to the
immediate problems facing the Army
and Navy. The staff conversations with
the British early in the year had pro-
vided a global strategy and a basis for
concerted action "so that at the very
beginning," as General Marshall later
explained, "we had a fair understanding
of what we had best do rather than the
necessity of engaging in prolonged con-
versations. . . ." 14 This understanding,
which included a recognition that Ger-
many was the main enemy and that the
major effort would be made initially in
Europe, was obviously not applicable in
the present situation. Of first import-
ance now was the necessity to check the
Japanese, to unify and co-ordinate "the

"USAFMIDPAC Hist, pt. I, vol. s, app. gE; Craven
and Cate, AA F I, pp. 278-79; Morton, The Fall of
the Philippines, p. 1 i5-|For rumors received in Wash-

ington see OCS iliio^-3 and WPD 4688-13.
"Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 3, p. 1888.

142

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

President Roosevelt signs the Declara-
tion of War, December 1941.

forces of all opposition to Japan in the
Far East, with special reference to the
South Seas area." 15

It was to this task and to the imme-
diate measures required to put the nation
on a war footing that the President and
his chief military and naval advisers ad-
dressed themselves on the outbreak of
war. On the afternoon of the yth, only
a few hours after the Pearl Harbor at-
tack, the President met with his War
Council to consider what must be done.
Those present at the meeting — Hull,
Stimson, Knox, Marshall, and Stark —
agreed that America's position in the
Far East had been greatly weakened but
that the Japanese attack had mobilized
the nation as nothing else could have.
They recognized the necessity for con-

tinuing shipments of war materials to
Britain and the Soviet Union, and dis-
cussed at length the specific measures
required to redress the naval balance in
the Pacific and to defend vital installa-
tions in the United States and overseas.
The President also told his advisors
during the meeting that he would go
before Congress next day to ask for a
declaration of war.

Relations with the European Axis was
one of the most troublesome questions
facing the President. Japan alone had
attacked the United States, but American
strategy was oriented toward Europe and
the nation was committed to the support
of the powers fighting Germany and
Italy as well as Japan. A declaration of
war against the European Axis, without
provocation, might arouse opposition in
Congress and in the country. That there
was no intention of abandoning England
and the Soviet Union had been made
clear in the meeting of the War Council,
and again, later in the day, when Mr.
Churchill telephoned the President to
offer his support and say that he intend-
ed to go before the House of Commons
to ask for a declaration of war against
Japan. He proposed also that he come
to Washington with his principal mili-
tary advisers to discuss the changed situ-
ation now that "we are all in the same
boat." To this, Roosevelt had promptly
agreed. 18

The question of relations with the
European Axis was discussed on the eve-
ning of the 7 th in a Cabinet meeting
which Roosevelt termed the most serious
"since Lincoln met with his Cabinet at
the outbreak of the Civil War." 17 The

"Hull, Memoirs, II, mg.

"Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, pp. 432-33.
439; Hull, Memoirs, II, 1059—1100.

"Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, p. 433.

THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR, 7-26 DECEMBER

143

draft message he read to the Cabinet
members contained no mention of Ger-
many or Italy. Evidently, in the belief
that these nations would support Japan,
he preferred to wait and let them declare
war first. Later that night the President
reviewed the situation with Congres-
sional leaders and the next day went be-
fore Congress which, with only one
dissenting vote, approved the declara-
tion of war against Japan. Great Britain,
the Netherlands Government-in-exile,
the British Dominions, and various Cen-
tral American republics followed suit
soon after. It was not until the 1 1 th that
Germany and Italy declared war against
the United States, thus ending the un-
certainty of America's relations with the
European Axis.

Hawaii

The significance of the damage in-
flicted on the Pacific Fleet on the first
day of war was apparent almost imme-
diately. The offensive power of the
fleet, it seemed, had been shattered and
its ability to defend Hawaii and to pro-
vide a screen for the west coast and the
Panama Canal greatly reduced. In fact,
there was a "grave possibility," the Navy
planners thought, that "the Japanese
might capture the Hawaiian Islands." 18
On the 8th, therefore, the Navy changed
Admiral Kimmel's instructions, and, in
effect modified Rainbow 5 and ABC-i.

18 Mins, JB Mtg, 8 Dec 41. Admiral Stark, though
he did not minimize the seriousness of the damage
at Pearl Harbor, reminded the President on the
morning of the 8th that the striking force of the fleet
■ — the carriers, cruisers, destroyers, and submarines —
had largely escaped damage and that shore base
facilities were intact. Ltr, Stark to Hoover, 5 Aug 59,
OCMH.

The new mission of the Pacific Fleet was
now almost entirely defensive. Deleted
were the provisions for the support of
British naval forces, operations against
the Caroline and Marshall Islands, and
the diversion of Japanese forces from the
Malay Barrier. Kimmel was to limit
himself largely to the defense of the is-
lands and sea communications east of
the date line. This decision was approved
by the Joint Board the same day and
about a week later, after further study
by the naval planners, was communicated
to the British. 19

More than a change in mission was
required to remedy the damage at Pearl
Harbor. The first step in re-establishing
American power in the Central Pacific
and sharpening the badly dulled edge of
the "strategic triangle" was to strengthen
the Pacific Fleet. This was accomplished
by ordering back to the Pacific those
warships that had been sent to the
Atlantic in the spring and summer to
protect the convoys to England — the
carrier Yorktown, 3 battleships, 9 de-
stroyers, and 12 old submarines. This
action, too, constituted a revision of the
existing war plan, which provided for
the transfer of units of the Pacific Fleet
to the Mediterranean in the event of war
so that the British could reinforce their
Far Eastern fleet. 20 Such a step was
obviously out of the question.

The Pearl Harbor attack had not only

"Rad, CNO to CINCPAC, 0139, 9 Dec 41; Ltr, Secy
for Collab to Chief Staff Officer, British Staff Mis-
sion, 16 Dec 41, sub: ABC— 1 Modification, both
cited by Lt. Grace P. Hayes, USN, in Hist of JCS in
World War II: The War Against Japan, vol. I, ch. II,
p. 10; Mins, JB Mtg, 8 Dec 41.

M Mins, JB Mtg, 8 Dec 41; Rad, CNO to CinC At-
lantic, 8 Dec 41, copy in WPD Msg File, No. 116;
ABC-i, pars. 55 and 57, Pearl Harbor Attack Hear-
ings, pt. 15, pp. 1526-27.

144

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

revealed the weakness of American de-
fenses in the Pacific but had brought
into the open, with dramatic suddenness,
the inadequacies of command by mutual
co-operation and the danger of divided
responsibility. These weaknesses had
been recognized before the war, General
Marshall complaining in February 1941
that "old Army and Navy feuds" in
Hawaii were becoming confused with
questions of national defense. 21 But all
efforts to establish unity of command in
those areas where the Army and Navy
were jointly responsible for defense had
foundered on the sharp crags of service
jealousies and rivalries.

The disaster at Pearl Harbor aroused
the President to the dangers of divided
command. Determined that there should
be no repetition of the confusion of re-
sponsibility that had existed in Hawaii,
he ordered his military and naval ad-
visers on the 12th to establish a unified
command in Panama under the Army.
Though some of the naval members of
the Joint Board were opposed to the
move, they had no choice but to accept
it, for, as the minutes recorded, "unless
unified control was effected by joint
agreement between the Army and Navy,
the establishment of a Department of
National Defense . . . might be consid-
ered a certainty." In Hawaii, the Navy
was given command effective 17 Decem-
ber. "For your confidential informa-
tion," Marshall explained to the Army
commander in Hawaii, this action had
been taken because "the Secretary of
War and the Secretary of the Navy were
determined that there would be no
question of future confusion as to re-

sponsibility. . . . Both Stark and I were
struggling to the same end. . . ." 22

The establishment of unity of com-
mand coincided with a complete turn-
over in the high command in Hawaii.
As early as the 12 th demands for an in-
quiry into the causes of the disaster at
Pearl Harbor were being made in Con-
gress, but they were staved off until the
14th when Secretary Knox returned
from Hawaii after a quick inspection.
His description of the situation there in
the days preceding the attack did noth-
ing to lessen the demand for an inquiry
and the next day the President appointed
a 5-man board headed by Supreme
Court Justice Owen J. Roberts to make
an official investigation. With the pub-
lic explanation that it was acting to
"avoid a situation where officials charged
with responsibility for the future security
of the vital base would otherwise at this
critical hour also be involved in a search-
ing investigation," the Navy on the 17th
relieved Admiral Kimmel, General
Short, and Maj. Gen. Frederick L.
Martin, the air commander. Rear Adm.
Chester W. Nimitz was jumped two
grades and appointed in Kiramel's
place. Pending his arrival in Hawaii,
Vice Adm. William S. Pye took, over
command of the Pacific Fleet and of all
forces in the area under the principles
of unified command. Short's replace-
ment, Lt. Gen. Delos C. Emmons, an air

"Ltr, Marshall to Short, 7 Feb 41, WPD4449-1;
Ltr, Stark to Hoover, 5 Aug 59, OCMH.

m Ltr, CofS to CG Hawaiian Dept, 20 Dec 41,
Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 15, p. 1483; Mins,
JB Mtgs, 13 and 17 Dec 41; Memo, Stark for Mar-
shall, 17 Dec 41, sub: Unity of Command, WPD
2917-38. Ltr, Emmons to Hoover, 10 Jul 59, OCMH.
General Emmons recalled that on the morning of 8
December he and Maj. Gen. Lesley J. McNair called
on Marshall for instructions, and recommended that
unity of command be established immediately in the
Pacific. General Marshall told them that he intended
to take the matter up with the Navy.

THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR, 7-26 DECEMBER

145

Admiral King

General Emmons

Admiral Nimitz

force officer, was in San Francisco when
he received Marshall's telephone call to
proceed to Hawaii at once and take com-
mand of the Department. He arrived
on the night of the 16th and the follow-
ing morning relieved General Short.
Brig. Gen. Clarence L. Tinker flew out
the same day to take over command of
the air forces. 23 General Marshall sur-
vived this crisis but his naval colleague,
Admiral Stark, was ultimately replaced
by Admiral Ernest J. King.

The safety of the fleet base in Hawaii
continued to be the main preoccupation
of the Navy and the chief subject of de-
bate between the Navy and Army plan-
ners during the first weeks of the war.
The former believed that all available
resources should be sent to Oahu imme-
diately. The latter, harassed by calls for
protection from civilian agencies and
military commanders and fearful of at-
tacks against the west coast and Panama,

13 New York Times, December 18, 1941; Memo,
Deputy CofS for TAG, 16 Dec 41, no sub; Tel Conf
of CofS and Emmons, 16 Dec 41, both in OPD Exec
Files. Ltr, Emmons to Hoover, 10 Jul 59, OCMH.

resisted these demands, but did agree
with their naval colleagues on the stra-
tegic importance of Hawaii and the need
for reinforcements. The question was
how much of the slender resources then
available should be sent and how much
should be allotted to other commands
and for civilian defense.

The problem of Hawaii's defenses was
thoroughly discussed at the Joint Board
meetings on 8 and 9 December. Already
the War Department had received Gen-
eral Short's estimates of the equipment,
supplies, and troops needed for his com-
mand, and had approved most of his
requests, including those for 60 heavy
bombers and 100 pursuit craft, 10,000,000
rounds of .50-caliber ammunition, and
a large number of bombs. 24 But the Navy
did not regard these reinforcements —
which were scheduled to leave the west
coast after 12 December — as adequate.
It wanted all available antiaircraft artil-
lery and a large force dispatched to Oahu
immediately, even, Admiral Stark de-

"Rad, Short to Marshall, 8 Dec 41, AG 381 (11-
27-41 Sec 1) Far East.

146

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

clared, "at the risk of taking a chance on
leaving some installations in the United
States unprotected." So serious was the
danger, in Stark's estimation, that he
advised Kimmel not to use Pearl Harbor
as a base, except for submarines and
patrol craft, until it was reinforced. 25

The position taken by Stark and his
naval planners was not an unreasonable
one. Disaster had followed disaster in the
Pacific. The naval base at Cavite in the
Philippines had been virtually destroyed
and Admiral Hart on the ioth had re-
ported that Manila was no longer tenable
as a naval base and that he was sending
the rest of his fleet, except the subma-
rines and patrol craft, south, a decision
which Admiral Stark approved. 26 Hard
on the heels of this news came word that
the Prince of Wales and Repulse had
been sunk. Added to the loss of Ameri-
can strength in the Pacific and Far East,
these fresh disasters had a profound effect
on naval thinking and strategy.

Oddly enough, the naval commander
in Hawaii, Admiral Kimmel, did not
share the pessimism of his Washington
superiors, though he pressed for rein-
forcements as vigorously as any and
yielded to none in his view of the seri-
ousness of the situation. But he also saw
the bright side of the picture. For one
thing, the workshops and depots at Pearl
Harbor were still intact. And more im-
portant, the three carriers had escaped
the attack and were available for limited
missions. Certainly the strategy for the
use of the fleet would have to be changed,
Kimmel told Secretary Knox when he
visited Hawaii on the nth, but he added,

"a very powerful striking force of car-
riers, cruisers and destroyers survives.
These forces must be operated boldly and
vigorously on the tactical offensive in
order to retrieve our initial disaster." 27

The Army planners, though they were
unwilling to reinforce Hawaii to the ex-
tent desired by their naval colleagues or
by Admiral Kimmel, did not minimize
the danger to that outpost. In an esti-
mate of 10 December, G-2 pointed out
that the Japanese were striking out "in
all directions simultaneously" and that
their next objectives might include
major elements of the fleet, installations
and factories on the west coast, Alaska,
and Panama. Of these the most serious,
G-2 thought, would be the loss of the
Panama Canal and of major elements of
the fleet. An Army War Plans Division
estimate two days later listed five possible
lines of Japanese action: continued oper-
ations in the Philippines and Malaya;
attacks against Hawaii, seizure of a base
in the Aleutians; air strikes on the
Panama Canal; and raids against ship-
ping and installations on the west coast.
To counter these the United States
would only be able first, to resist Japa-
nese attacks in the Philippines with the
forces already there; second, reinforce
Hawaii and defend it against attack, with
the knowledge that "the naval situation
in the Pacific is such that a successful de-
fense of Hawaii cannot be absolutely
assured"; and, finally, defend Alaska, the
west coast, and the Panama Canal. 28

The Navy's estimates differed from the

20 Mins, JB Mtg, 9 Dec 41; Morison, The Rising
Sun in the Pacific, p. 2ig.

M Rad, CINCAF to OPNAV, 1330, 10 Dec 41; Mins,
JB Mtg, 10 Dec 41.

"Quoted in Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pa-
cific, p. 220. The original of Kimmel's report has
not been found in the Navy's files.

59 Memos, G-2 for GHQ, 10 Dec 41, sub: Brief Esti-
mate of the Situation, "WPD 4544—38; Gerow for
CofS, j 2 Dec 41, sub: Brief Current Strategic Esti-
mate, WPD 4622-37.

THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR, 7-26 DECEMBER

147

Army's mainly in the emphasis placed on
Hawaii. Admiral Kimmel had admitted,
even while urging boldness, that the
most probable enemy action in his thea-
ter was a raid by fast striking forces
against Oahu, Midway, or the Aleutians.
But Admiral Stark took a more serious
view. The Japanese, he told Marshall
on the 11th, had the ships and men to
land on any of the outlying islands in the
Hawaiian chain, blockade Oahu, or at-
tack the west coast, Alaska, and Panama.
"This picture," he declared, "is not over-
drawn. The Hawaiian Islands are in ter-
rible danger of early capture. Every
resource of the United States in ships,
troops, aircraft, and material should be
considered available for use in this emer-
gency. . . . " 29 He proposed, therefore,
that the equivalent of three divisions, as
many planes as possible, a large naval
force, and a large amount of supplies —
altogether 100,000 men and 500,000 tons
of shipping — be dispatched immediately
to Hawaii. And until these reinforce-
ments arrived, he declared, the Navy
would discontinue the use of Pearl
Harbor as a base.

Such grand-scale reinforcement was
impossible, even if the shipping could
be found, without abandoning the de-
fense of other vital points and endanger-
ing the safety of the Atlantic sea lanes.
General Marshall reminded Stark of
these obligations, while admitting the
importance of Hawaii and agreeing to
send additional reinforcements to the
islands if it could be done without "jeop-
ardizing the security of the Panama
Canal and Continental United States." 30

Finally, after a week of discussion, the
two Chiefs collaborated on a joint esti-
mate for the President that reflected
Stark's view of the seriousness of the
danger, but made allowance for the
needs of other areas and listed the meas-
ures already taken. 81

By this time the danger to Hawaii,
though not ended, was waning. Reports
of enemy landings and imminent attacks
had all proved false. In General Short's
opinion there was, by 15 December, little
danger of a hostile landing; raids, he
thought, were still possible. His succes-
sor, General Emmons, added to Short's
requests for reinforcements two square
divisions, two antiaircraft regiments, and
10,000 service troops. He was given only
one of the divisions, the 27th, and told
that reinforcements would reach him
over an extended period of time, priority
for emergency shipments having already
passed to the Southwest Pacific. 32 By
Christmas it was clear that Hawaii was
no longer in immediate danger of inva-
sion, a view endorsed by the British plan-
ners who believed that the main Japa-
nese effort was in Southeast Asia, and
that, while raids and hit-and-run attacks
in the eastern Pacific were still possible,
a large amphibious operation in that
area was most unlikely. 33

"Memo, CNO for CofS, 11 Dec 41, sub: The Dan-
gerous Strategic Situation, OPD Exec Files.

"Memo, CofS for CNO, 12 Dec 41, sub: Defense of
Oahu, WPD 4544-29.

J1 Merao, CofS and CNO for President, 20 Dec 41
(?), sub: Dangerous Strategic Situation, WPD 4449-6.

32 Rad, Short to Marshall, 15 Dec 41, AG 381 (11-
27-41 Sec 1) Far East; memos, WPD for CofS, 23 Dec
41, sub: Hawaiian Defenses, and WPD for TAG, 25
Dec 41, sub: Reinf for Hawaii, both in WPD 3444-
19; Ltr, Emmons to Hoover, 10 Jul 59, OCMH.

M ABC-4, 24 Dec 41, ann. 2 ARCADIA Proceedings.
For reinforcements to Hawaii during this period, see
Leigh ton and Coakley, Global Logistics and Strategy,
ch. VI, and ABC 381 (11-27-41 Gen) Far East, WPD
3444-14 and 15, 4622-39, and 3674-74.

148

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The Philippines

The shift in focus of interest from Ha-
waii to the western Pacific evidenced by
the higher priority given Australia and
the Philippines on 24 December was the
culmination of a dispute that had begun
on the first day of war. The issue had
been raised by the necessity for deciding
the fate of a convoy of seven ships, es-
corted by the cruiser Pensacola and
carrying men and munitions to Manila
via the South Pacific Toute. The Navy
had, on the 8th, ordered the Pensacola
convoy to put in at Suva in the Fijis
to await further orders, and on the gth,
at a meeting of the Joint Board, pro-
posed that the ships be brought back to
Hawaii to reinforce that badly battered
garrison. The Army members of the
board, notably General Gerow, support-
ed this view and suggested further that
a portion of the convoy might be re-
turned to the United States. Following
discussion the board agreed that the
convoy should be ordered back to
Hawaii. General Marshall concurred
without comment. 34

M Mins, JB Mtg, 8 and 9 Dec 41. In the convoy was
a field artillery brigade, eighteen P-40S, fifty-two
A— S4's, a large quantity of ammunition and miscel-
laneous equipment, many vehicles and about 5,000
troops. Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 776, is
Dec 41, WPD 46S8.

Though the action of the Joint Board
in ordering the Pensacola convoy back
to Hawaii may have been necessary for
military reasons, it overlooked the moral,
phychological, and political considera-
tions which affected the attitude of
America toward the Philippines and its
position in the Far East. Though these
considerations were not, perhaps, strictly
within the province of the Army and
Navy planners, their existence and po-
tential importance had been recognized
in some of the early studies. As late as
December 1940 the two service Secre-
taries and the President had approved a
Joint Board study that made the point
that in the event of war with Germany
and Japan, the decision to make the
main effort in the Atlantic initially
might well be endangered "should Japa-
nese success seem imminent." Public
opinion, the board had suggested then,
might lead to heavy pressure "to support
the forces engaged in the Far East instead
of leaving them to their fate" and result
in stronger effort in that area than pro-
vided for in the plans. 36

"Stimson and Bundy, On Active Service, p. 395.
"Memo, CNO for CofS, 15 Dec 41, IncI: Extract
from JB 335, ser. 670, 21 Dec 40, WPD 4561-10.

THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR, 7-26 DECEMBER

149

Secretary Stimson confers with General
Marshall, January 1942.

States during the opening months of the
war. The President, Secretary Stimson,
and General Marshall all felt strongly
with the American people that the
United States had an obligation to do
all in its power to aid the Philippine
people and support General MacArthur
whatever the risks. Moreover, General
Marshall had already assured MacArthur
that he could expect "every possible
assistance," and he was reluctant to tell
him now, after the Joint Board's deci-
sion, that the Pensacola convoy had been
turned back. He wanted "to send some
news," he told Stimson on the morning
of the 10th, "which would buck General
MacArthur up." 8T

Secretary Stimson was thoroughly in
sympathy with the Chief of Staff's views.
A former governor-general of the Philip-
pines and one of the foremost advocates

"Mins, CofS Conf, 10 Dec 41, WDCSA CofS
Conf, II.

of a strong policy in the Far East, Mr.
Stimson needed no urging to do all in
his power for the Filipinos and General
MacArthur, and immediately went to
the White House with the problem.
There, where there was a sensitive ap-
preciation for the moral and political
consequences of the Joint Board deci-
sion, he found ready support and a
promise of aid. This assistance took the
form of a request by the President that
the Joint Board reconsider its decision
on the fate of the Pensacola convoy.
Thus, when the Board met that after-
noon, 10 December, it had little choice
but to reverse itself, though the naval
members still felt that there was little
hope of getting the supplies to Mac-
Arthur. The Army members followed
the lead of their chief and argued that
the vessels should proceed to Brisbane,
after which some means would be sought
to convoy them northward. Two days
later, the senior Army officer in the con-
voy, Brig. Gen. Julian F. Barnes, was
placed under MacArthur 's command
and told that his principal task was to
get the men, planes, and munitions in
the holds of the seven ships to the Phi-
lippines by any means available and as
quickly as possible. 38

The news that reinforcements were on
the way was received with enthusiasm in
Manila. But Admiral Hart's response to
MacArthur's request for help in bring-
ing the convoy in dampened this enthu-
siasm. Like Admirals Stark and Turner,
and like many Army planners as well,
Hart thought the cause of the Philip

"Mins, JB Mtg, 10 Dec 41; Rad, OPNAV to CTF
15, 10 Dec 41, WPD Msg File; Memo, CofS for Comdr
D, H. Harries, Australian Naval Attache, 12 Dec 41,
sub: Msg for Transmission; Rad, Marshall to Mac-
Arthur, No. 776, iz Dec 41, both in WPD 4628.

150

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

pines was a hopeless one. The Japanese,
he believed, would have established a
complete blockade of the Philippines
before the convoy could arrive, and he
could not, he told MacArthur, take the
responsibility for protecting the convoy
if it tried to make the journey between
Australia and the Philippines. 38

MacArthur took strong exception to
Hart's view that the convoys could not
be brought in safely, but the admiral
found firm support in Washington. The
Chief of Naval Operations not only
agreed with Hart's estimate but urged
him to leave the Philippines as soon as
possible "to support the defense of the
Netherlands East Indies and Australia."
Foreseeing the loss of Singapore and
Luzon and unwilling to risk the loss of
its warships in a hopeless cause, the
Navy wished to concentrate Allied re-
sources on the defense of the Malay
Barrier and northwest Australia. The
artillery and ammunition earmarked for
MacArthur, it proposed, should be
retained in Australia and used for the
defense of Darwin. The Army planners
did not differ with the naval estimate
of the probable loss of the Philippines
or of the importance of the Malay Bar-
rier, but they did oppose any effort to
divert aid from MacArthur. And so did
naval officers in Australia, who asserted
their belief that the Pensacola convoy
could still reach the Philippines,
provided that there was "adequate
cooperation" between the Army and
Navy. 40

MacArthur not only refused to accept
the view that the Philippines were
doomed, but warned that "if the sus-
picion of such action ever materializes
the entire structure will collapse over
my head." What he wanted was a review
of the accepted strategy in the Pacific
and Far East "lest a fatal mistake be
made." To him "the locus of victory or
defeat" lay in the Philippines. If they
and the Indies fell, so would Singapore
and the Asiatic continent. The defense
of the islands, therefore, justified, in his
view, the allocation of the combined
resources of the Allies to the Pacific.
"If the Western Pacific is to be saved,"
he told the Chief of Staff in language
similar to that used by Admiral Stark
in describing the plight of Hawaii, "it
will have to be saved here and now." 41
Constantly he urged on the Chief of Staff
a bold course of action against an over-
extended enemy. On the 10th, asserting
that there existed a "golden opportunity
. . . for a master stroke," he suggested
a strong carrier-based air attack against
the Japanese home islands which, he
declared, would "at once relieve pres-
sure from objectives of Japanese drive
to southward" for Japan itself was
weakly defended. "Definite information
available here," he added significantly,
"shows that entry of Russia is enemy's
greatest fear." A few days later he ad-
vanced the idea that aircraft carriers be
used to bring in 300 pursuit planes,
a proposal the Navy vigorously and
successfully opposed. 42

''Rads, MacArthur to Marshall, 13 and 14 Dec 41,
OPD Exec Files; CNO to CINCAF, 1958, 10 Dec 41,
WPD 4622-30.

"Rad, Milid Melbourne to WD, No. 40, 18 Dec 41,
WPD 4622-38; CNO to CINCAF, 14 Dec 41, copy in
AG 381 (11-27-41 Gen) Far East; MacArthur to
Marshall, 14 Dec 41, OPD Exec Files.

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, 13 Dec 41, OPD
Exec Files.

"Rads, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 198, 10 Dec 41,
WPD 4544-26; 14 Dec 41, OPD Exec Files; memo,
CNO for CofS, 23 Dec 41, sub: Transportation of
Short Range Aircraft, AG 381 (i 1-27-41 Gen) Far
East.

THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR, 7-26 DECEMBER

151

Additional weight was given Mac-
Arthur's pleas by the arguments of
Francis B. Sayre, High Commissioner
for the Philippines. Stressing the moral
and political aspects of the Philippine
campaign and the importance of that
campaign to America's position in the
Far East, he urged the President to send
MacArthur the reinforcements and sup-
plies he had requested. Rumors that
the United States was leaving the Fili-
pinos to their fate were circulating in
Manila, Sayre told Mr. Roosevelt, and
if reinforcements did not arrive soon the
Filipinos might abandon all resistance
and submit passively to the Japanese. 43

MacArthur's and Sayre's requests were
received sympathetically in Washington,
where they brought immediate results.
The President had already ordered the
Army and Navy to make every effort
to aid the Philippine garrison, but the
latter was noticeably lacking in enthu-
siasm for the program. This reluctance
Roosevelt sought to overcome by calling
in Acting Secretary of the Navy, James
V. Forrestal, and telling him that "he
was bound to help the Philippines and
the Navy has got to help in it." 44 To
Sayre the President sent reassurances
that he was keeping directly in touch
with the situation in the Far East. At
the same time Marshall sent a separate
message to MacArthur explaining that
the problem of getting supplies to him
had been "complicated by Naval losses,"
but that reinforcements were being
"rushed" to the Philippines. "The stra-
tegic importance of the Philippines is
fully recognized," the Chief of Staff told

MacArthur, "and there has been and
will be no repeat no wavering in the
determination to support you." 45

This pledge was no empty promise.
Marshall was doing everything possible
to give MacArthur what he needed and
had only the day before assigned the
newly arrived deputy chief of the War
Plans Division, Brig. Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower, the task of co-ordinating
and directing this program of reinforce-
ment. Like Stimson and Marshall,
Eisenhower believed that it was neces-
sary to make every effort to reinforce
the Philippines, even if the hope of suc-
cess was slim. The program would have
to be based on Australia, he believed,
and work should begin at once to con-
struct military bases there from which
to send supplies and men northward.
"We must take great risks," he wrote,
"and spend any amount of money
required." 46

Eisenhower's plan, which Marshall
quickly approved, was to use the forces
in the Pensacola convoy, due in Bris-
bane on the 2 2d, as the nucleus of the
new command. Designated U.S. Army
Forces in Australia (USAFIA), this com-
mand would be essentially an air and
supply base. General Barnes, when he
arrived in Brisbane, was to be relieved
as commander of the forces in the con-
voy by an air officer from the Philippines.
Eventually, Maj. Gen. George H. Brett,
then in Chungking, would take over
command of USAFIA, with Col. Stephen

"Rad, Sayre to President, No. 628, 15 Dec 41, WPD
4632-38.
"Stimson and Bundy, On Active Service, p. 396.

"Rads, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 787, 15 Dec
41; President to Sayre, 15 Dec 41, both in WPD
4622—38.

"General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in
Europe (New York: Doubleday and Company, 1948),
p. 1 8.

152

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

J. Chamberlin, later to become Mac-
Arthur's G-3, as chief of staff. 47 The pri-
mary task, of the Australian command
would be the support of the Philippines
and for this purpose its commander
would take his instructions from Gen-
eral MacArthur. In addition, the
USAFIA commander was to arrange for
the flight of the planes in the Pensacola
convoy northward, loaded with all the
ammunition they could carry, and to
co-operate with the Navy in securing
the sea lanes. Any course that would
achieve these results, the Chief of Staff
directed, was authorized. 48

General MacArthur was kept fully in-
formed of these developments and on the
18 th Marshall undertook to summarize
for him the measures being taken to send
him help. Two transports, he told him,
were to be loaded with aircraft and am-
munition and dispatched shortly from
San Francisco. Two additional ship-
ments were scheduled to reach Brisbane
early in January and would give that
base 230 aircraft. Via the South Atlan-
tic-Africa route, two Pan American clip-
pers loaded with 50-caliber ammunition
were heading for Australia. Fifteen
heavy bombers were being diverted from
their original destinations and ordered
to the Southwest Pacific on a flight sched-
ule which would see the arrival of three
planes a day between Christmas and the
New Year. Finally, Marshall said, the
War Department was making available
to the USAFIA commander the sum of
$10,000,000 to finance blockade-runners

between Australia and the Philippines. 49
These measures added up to an impres-
sive program of reinforcement and rep-
resented considerable staff work in
Washington, but to MacArthur in the
Philippines it was only a paper program.
Until the aircraft and supplies reached
him, he and his men could find little
consolation in such summaries.

On 22 December, the same day that
the bulk of the Japanese i4th Army
landed at Lingayen Gulf, the Pensacola
convoy with its valuable cargo of air-
craft, artillery, and ammunition arrived
in Brisbane. Already General Mac-
Arthur had instructed the USAFIA com-
mander to send the convoy (less the
aircraft, which were to be unloaded,
assembled, and flown north) to the Phil-
ippines, and the Joint Board had pro-
vided for co-ordination between the
Army and Navy forces in the area. This
co-ordination it hoped to achieve by
directing General Brett and Rear Adm.
William A. Glassford, Hart's representa-
tive, to meet "for the purpose of agree-
ing upon common action" to transport
the supplies MacArthur needed, and, in
co-operation with the Australians, estab-
lish a base at Darwin and defend north-
west Australia. 50 Marshall had done all
he could to assure the transshipment of
the convoy to the Philippines, and, on
the day the convoy reached its destina-
tion, once again reminded the Army
commanders in Australia to spare nei-
ther effort nor expense to accomplish
their task. At the same time, the Navy
instructed its representatives in Austra-

"Memo, WPD for CofS, 17 Dec 41, sub: Plan for
Australian Base, WPD 4628-1.

*Ltr, Maj Gen Richard C. Moore to Brett, 19 Dec
41, OCS 18136-161; Rad, Marshall to Mil Attache
Melbourne for Brett, No, 31, 17 Dec 41, WPD 4628-1.

*Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 824, 18 Dec 41,
WPD 4622-28.

M Rad, Marshall to Brett, 21 Dec 41, WPD 4622-38;
JB 325, ser. 783.

THE FIRST WEEKS OF WAR, 7-26 DECEMBER

153

lia to assist in every way and Admiral
Stark asked Hart, who was to leave
Manila shortly, to impress on the Aus-
tralians the importance of keeping open
the Torres Strait route for supplies to
Darwin and the Philippines. 51

Despite these elaborate preparations
and the efforts of the small group of
officers in Australia, none of the planes,
men, or munitions of the Pensacola con-
voy ever reached the Philippines. When
the planes were assembled it was discov-
ered that they lacked vital parts needed
in combat. Before the missing parts
could be found or shipped from the
United States, the fields on which the
planes would base had fallen to the
enemy. The field artillery brigade, to-
gether with other reinforcements and
supplies from the convoy, left Brisbane
on the 28th on two fast ships. By the
time the ships got to Darwin the Japa-
nese had already established themselves
in Borneo athwart the line of commu-
nication northward and the convoy was
halted. "It now appears," General Mar-
shall wrote the Far East commander,
"that the plans for reaching you quickly
with pursuit plane support are jeopar-
dized. Your day to day situation and

that of Borneo will determine what can
be done at any moment. . . ." 52

Though there was no relaxation in
the determination to reinforce the Phil-
ippines, it was evident by the last week
in December that these efforts had but
slight chance of success and that the men
and supplies in and en route to Austra-
lia might be available for another cause.
The President wanted them to be used
"in whatever manner might best serve
the joint cause in the Far East"; the
British wanted them for Singapore, and
the Navy pushed for the establishment
of a strong base at Darwin. The Army
planners, who were reluctantly coming
to share the pessimism of their naval col-
leagues about the fate of the Philippines,
limited their plans to the development
of a strong air base in Australia from
which to project air operations forward
for the defense of Singapore and the
Malay Barrier. 53 It was to this problem
that the American planners in Washing-
ton and their British allies turned their
attention during the weeks that followed.

"Rads, Marshall to Mil Attach^, Melbourne, No.
36, sx Dec 41, WPD 4630-2; OPNAV to CINCAF,
agog, aa Dec 41, Office of Naval Records.

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 879, 24 Dec. 41, AG
381 (11-27-41 Gen) Far East; Morton, The Fall 0}
the Philippines l p. 154TI

"Notes on White House Mtg, 24 Dec 41, OPD Exec
Files; Ltr, Marshall to Lt Gen H. C. B. Wemyss, Brit-
ish Mission, 24 Dec 41, AG 381 (11-27-41 Gen) Far
East; Rad, Marshall to Mil Att Melbourne, No. 41,
25 Dec 41, WPD 4628-3.

CHAPTER VII

The Malay Barrier

Defensive warfare, therefore, does not consist of waiting idly for things
to happen.

Clausewitz, Principles of War

Though the program to reinforce the
Philippines and establish an American
base in Australia developed almost acci-
dentally from the improvisations of the
first day of the war, it clearly foreshad-
owed the direction of American strategy
in the Pacific. But no clear statement
of this strategy, let alone specific plans
to put it into effect, existed when the
program was adopted. Before either
could be developed it would be neces-
sary to correlate American and Allied
strategy in the Pacific and to develop
a program of action against the common
enemy.

Allied Strategy

When General MacArthur told Mar-
shall on 10 December that what Japan
feared most was Soviet entry into the
war, he emphasized a fact well under-
stood in Washington. That did not
mean, however, that military authorities
were unanimously in favor of Soviet par-
ticipation. Admiral Stark, for example,
seriously questioned the advisability of
such a move because of the effect it
would have on the war in Europe.
General Marshall agreed fully that any
move that would weaken Soviet resist-

ance on the eastern front would be dis-
astrous to the Allied cause. But it was
undeniable, he pointed out, that a So-
viet attack against Japan would improve
America's position in the Pacific. The
fact that Japan had not attacked the
Maritime Provinces seemed to him sig-
nificant. "If immediate fighting in the
Manchukuo front is disadvantageous to
Japan," Marshall declared, "it is, for
that reason, immediately advantageous
to us." 1

But participation by the Soviet Union
in the war against Japan was not the
only way that nation could aid the Allied
cause in the Far East. In the Maritime
Provinces were bases that lay within
bombing distance of the industrial heart
of Japan. In the hands of American
forces, these bases would constitute a
formidable threat to the Japanese enemy.

The possibility that the Soviet Union
would allow the United States to base
its forces in the Maritime Provinces was
a specter that haunted the Japanese and
was always a factor in their planning.
The Americans had considered this pos-
sibility in their prewar plans and esti-

'Memos, Gerow for Marshall, 17 Dec 41, sub:
Memo for President (not used); Stark for President,
3 Dec 41, no sub, both in WPD 4557.

THE MALAY BARRIER

155

mates, and had sought to make the
necessary arrangements with the Soviet
Union. These efforts had been unsuccess-
ful, but as late as November 1941, Gen-
eral Marshall was still optimistic and
confided to a group of newsmen that
"arrangements are being made to pro-
vide landing fields for flying fortresses
in Vladivostok" and that the Philippine-
based B-17's would shuttle between
Clark Field and Vladivostok in the event
of war, dropping their bombs en route
on the "paper cities of Japan." 2

The Pearl Harbor attack gave impetus
to the efforts to complete arrangements
with the Soviet Union for American use
of the Maritime Provinces. On the day
after the attack Secretary Hull sounded
out Maxim Litvinov, the Soviet Am-
bassador, on this question and Marshall
raised it in military conference. But
Litvinov, on instructions from his gov-
ernment, quickly put an end to such
hopes. To the President, during a visit
to the White House, and to Mr. Hull
later, he made it perfectly clear that the
USSR would have to maintain a neu-
tral position in the Far East. His coun-
try, Litvinov explained, was too heavily
committed in the war against Germany
and "could not risk an attack by
Japan." 3

Stalin's reluctance to engage in dis-
cussions dealing with the Far East was
in marked contrast to Chiang Kai-shek's
eagerness for concerted action. China
had not been included in the prewar
discussions of strategy and no plans had
been made for the use of Chinese bases

or troops in the event of war with Japan.
The first suggestion that China become
an active partner in such a war came
from Chiang who, when he heard of
the Pearl Harbor attack, summoned the
American and Soviet ambassadors and
told them of his hopes for a military
alliance of all the anti-Axis nations un-
der American leadership. This thought
the Ambassadors passed on to their gov-
ernments, but it was not until the 11th
that the Generalissimo formally proposed
such an alliance, as well as the prepa-
ration of comprehensive plans for con-
certed action against Japan and the
formation of a military mission headed
by an American, with headquarters at
Chungking. 4

In Washington, the desirability of
international military collaboration was
fully recognized and plans for a meeting
were already being made. Chiang's sug-
gestions, therefore, though they were not
entirely in accord with American views,
were readily accepted by Roosevelt, but
with the proviso that several conferences,
not one, be held to co-ordinate the efforts
of the Allies. All together there would
be three: one in Chungking, one in Sin-
gapore, and one in Moscow, and invi-
tations went out immediately. Chiang
quickly agreed, as did the British, who
were scheduled to meet separately with
the Americans in Washington later in
the month. But Stalin asked that his
country not be pressed into any action
against Japan, and Roosevelt's invitation

•Notes on Mtg of newspaper correspondents with
Gen Marshall, 15 Nov 41. The notes were made by
the correspondents, one of whom supplied the author
with his copy.

•Hull, Memoirs, II, mi; Mins, CofS Mtg, 10 Dec
41, WDCSA Conf II.

'Telg. U.S. Ambassador, Chungking, 8 Dec 41,
WPD 4389—42; Memo, Laughlin Currie for Pres, 11
Dec 41, WPD 4389-46; Rad, Magruder to Secy War,
No. 95, 11 Dec 41, WPD Msg File. For full story of
this incident, see Charles F. Romanus and Riley Sun-
derland, Stilwell's Mission to China, UNITED
STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II (Washing-
ton, 1953), ch. II.

156

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

for a meeting in Moscow trailed off in
a series of inconclusive messages. 5

Preparations for the other two meet-
ings, to be held concurrently and to
consider ways to halt the Japanese, were
quickly completed. Representing the
United States at Chungking would be
Generals Brett, then in India, and
Magruder, head of the mission to China.
Lt. Col. Francis G. Brink, military ob-
server in Singapore and an old hand in
the Far East, would attend the meeting
there. The results of these conferences,
Roosevelt stipulated, were to be for-
warded to Washington by 20 December
so that they could be used in the forth-
coming meeting with Churchill and the
British Chiefs of Staff, scheduled for 22
December.

When the Chungking Conference con-
vened on 17 December neither Lt. Gen.
Sir Archibald Wavell, the British dele-
gate, nor Brett was present. Nevertheless
the Generalissimo took the opportunity
to present his plans for the formation of
an Allied general staff at Chungking,
and for the prosecution of the war
against Japan. On the 2 2d, Brett, who
had just received orders to go to Aus-
tralia and take command of U.S. Army
forces there, arrived with Wavell and
the conversations with the Chinese be-
gan in earnest. Brett's instructions from
Washington were to join with the others
in seeking ways to take advantage of
Japan's "present over-extension" — Mac-
Arthur's thesis — and to reassure the Chi-
nese that the United States was not
abandoning the Philippines or its part-

ners in Asia. After considerable discus-
sion, a plan that placed control in
Washington and called for only limited
operations in Asia was evolved by the
delegates and sent to Washington. The
Generalissimo thought it unsatisfactory
and sent his own. Neither contained any
concrete suggestions on command or lo-
gistics, two problems that would plague
the Allies in China for the next three
years. The conference ended on the 23d,
having produced, one of the planners
wrote, "very little in the way of concrete
results." 6

The Singapore Conference (18-20
December) , though it produced no plan
to halt the Japanese drive, was more
fruitful, for from it came the first con-
crete proposal for an Allied command
in the Southwest Pacific. Colonel Brink's
instructions were to present MacArthur's
views on Far East strategy, which Gen-
eral Marshall summarized for him as
follows:

American, Australian, and Dutch air and
naval forces should cooperate to keep open
line of communications from Australia to
Philippines. Successful defense of Philip
pines considered essential to maintenance
of Allied defensive structure in the Western
Pacific. Plans for immediate Philippine
reinforcement definitely dependent for
success upon establishment of air traffic
between Philippines and bases south. Every
effort should be made to supplement air
supply by reestablishment of limited sea
communications between Australia and
Philippines.

These views, Marshall added "are gener-
ally concurred in by the President." At
the same time he informed MacArthur

"Rads, Roosevelt to Chiang, is and 14 Dec 41; to
Stalin, 13 Dec 41; Stimson to Magruder, 13 Dec 41;
Stalin to Chiang, 12 Dec 41, OPD Exec Files; Roma-
nus and Sunderland, Stilwell's Mission to China, pp.
5°-52-

' Romanus and Sunderland, Stilwell's Mission to
China, p. 57; Rads, Marshall to Brett, No. 71, 15 Dec
41, and Brett to Marshall, 27 Dec 41, WPD 4389-54
and 58, and other related papers in this file.

THE MALAY BARRIER

157

of the forthcoming meetings and of his
instructions to the American delegates,
adding the suggestion that he correspond
directly with them "if practicable from
the viewpoint of secrecy." 7

With these instructions and with the
additional statement from MacArthur
and Hart, couched in MacArthurian
language, that "the Far East area is now
the dominant locus of the war," Colonel
Brink presented to the Singapore con-
ferees the American view of the impor-
tance of the Philippines and the necessity
for keeping open the lines of communi-
cation. But the British view of the
importance of Singapore predominated.
The report of the conferees, therefore,
while it called for large reinforcements
to the Southwest Pacific and adopted all
of MacArthur 's suggestions for the pro-
tection of the air and sea lanes between
Malaya and the Philippines, gave second
place to the defense of the Philippines.
Japanese conquest of Singapore, the con-
ferees thought, would be a disaster of
the first order. Not only would it make
certain the loss of the Netherlands
Indies with is vast resources in oil and
rubber, but it would also place the
enemy in position to isolate Australia
and New Zealand and to separate the
British and American fleets in the Far
East. The importance of the Philippines
was limited, in the report of the Singa-
pore Conference, to its use "as an
advanced and flanking base for offen-
sive action against Japanese lines of
communication." 8

The most important result of the
Singapore meeting was the proposal
made by Brink for a unified command.
The conference, he told the Chief of
Staff, "dearly indicated the need for one
supreme head over a combined allied
staff" to co-ordinate the efforts of the
American, British, Australian, and
Dutch forces in the area and to make
plans for the future. The "unofficial
opinions" of the conferees, he added,
indicated that the appointment of an
American familiar with the Pacific area
to this post "would not only be accept-
able but desirable." If such an appoint-
ment were made and a headquarters
established, Brink suggested that it be
located in Java. But he did not fail to
point out that the majority of the dele-
gates believed the major base of Allied
operations in the Southwest Pacific
should be in Australia, with an advance
base in the Indies. 9

Brink's suggestion was quickly picked
up in Washington. In the Army War
Plans Division, where it went first for
comment, the idea of a unified com-
mand in the Far East was described as
"an absolute essential for the successful
prosecution of the war effort in this
theater," and a matter that ought to be
discussed with the British. Action in
the division ended with the note, "This
matter is being considered by the Chief
of Staff. It has been discussed at the
White House." 10

T Rads, Marshall to Brink, No. 5g, 15 Dec 41; Mar-
shall to MacArthur, same date, both in WPD 4544-

8 Rad, Brink to Marshall, 21 Dec 41, OCS 18136-
179; Ltr, Brink to Marshall, 25 Dec 41, sub: Singa-
pore Conf, WPD 4544-31; Rad, Duff Cooper, British

Chairman of the Conf, no addressee, 20 Dec 41,
WPD 4402—137.

°Rad, Brink to Marshall, 21 Dec 41, OCS 18136-
i7g; comments by Brink on Singapore Conf, attached
to Rpt of Conf, WPD 4544-31.

10 Memo, Maj Elmer J. Rogers, Jr„ for ACofS WPD,
22 Dec 41, sub: Rpt of Singapore Conf, WPD
4544-3i;

158

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

By the time the reports of the Singa-
pore and Chungking Conferences
reached the War Department, Churchill
and his Chiefs of Staff had arrived in
Washington for the first of the many
wartime conferences which marked the
most successful military alliance in the
history of warfare. This meeting, which
lasted from 22 December 1941 to 14
January 1942 and is known by the code
name Arcadia, was in many respects the
most important of the conferences held
during the war. It established an organ-
ization for the conduct of coalition war-
fare that survived all the stresses and
strains of conflicting national interests;
reaffirmed the basic decision to make the
major effort in Europe at a time when
the American people had not yet recov-
ered from the shock of Pearl Harbor
and when disaster threatened in the
Pacific and Asia; established the first
Allied command of the war; and laid
down a broad program for the future
as well as a plan for immediate action. 11

The divergence between British and
American views, which had been plainly
evident at the ABC meetings early in
1941, was again apparent at the Arcadia
conference. The Americans believed
that their national interests would best
be served and the security of the United
States best assured by the early defeat
of Germany and Japan. This objective
they put ahead of all others and made
the measuring rod for every problem

"The minutes of the Arcadia conference are
bound separately and, with the records of the confer-
ence, are filed in ABC 337, Arcadia. For accounts of
the work of the conference, see Matloff and Snell,
Strategic Planning, 1941—42, ch. V: Hayes, The War
Against Japan, ch. I, pp. 45—72; Winston S. Churchill,
The Grand Alliance (Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1950), chs. 15-17; Sherwood, Roosevelt
arid Hopkins, ch. XX.

put before them. The British, too,
sought the early defeat of the enemy,
but they differed with the Americans
on how to do it. Further, their national
interests encompassed the security and
future of a far-flung empire with its
long lines of communication. Their
task was more complex than that of the
Americans and their path to victory
more circuitous. For them, the Middle
East, Singapore, Malaya, Australia, India
— all held an importance the Americans
could not grant on purely military
grounds. The British pressed hard for
the allocation of Allied resources to the
.defense of these positions, not only at
Arcadia but at the conferences that fol-
lowed, while the Americans pushed sin-
gle-mindedly for those operations that
would bring about the defeat of the
enemy. But determination to agree and
good will on both sides overcame all
differences.

About one thing, the major objective
of Allied strategy, there was no disagree-
ment. The principals subscribed to a
basic statement of war aims that served
as the strategic objective for the year
1942 and the basis for the division of
the resources of the two nations. "Much
has happened since February last," the
conferees noted, "but notwithstanding
the entry of Japan into the War, our
view remains that Germany is still the
prime enemy- and her defeat is the key
to victory. Once Germany is defeated the
collapse of Italy and the defeat of Japan
must follow." 12 It was agreed therefore,
as "a cardinal principle" of American
and British strategy, "that only the
minimum of force necessary for the safe-
guarding of vital interests in other thea-

u ABC-4/CSi, 31 Dec 41. The original British ver-
sion of the final phrase reads "must speedily follow."

THE MALAY BARRIER

159

ters should be diverted from operations
against Germany."

In terms of the existing situation, this
"cardinal principle" meant that the pro-
duction of armaments would have to be
stepped up; that essential positions would
have to be defended; that the vital lines
of communication would have to be
held; and that, by a combination of
bombing, blockade, and propaganda,
German resistance would have to be
reduced so that the Allies could land
on the Continent in 1943. But the prin-
ciple of minimum force in the Pacific
was one that could be interpreted vari-
ously and usually was, depending on the
situation. There were always those who
could justify additional forces for the
Pacific on the ground that they were
required to safeguard vital interests
there. This was the Navy's position,
argued forcefully and consistently by
Admiral King.

In the Pacific and Far East, the Ameri-
cans and the British Chiefs of Staff
agreed, it would be necessary to main-
tain the security of Australia, New Zea-
land, and India; to support China; and
to gain "points of vantage" from which
an offensive against Japan could "even-
tually be developed." These were long-
range objectives; the "immediate object"
was to hold Hawaii, Alaska, Singapore,
the Malay Barrier, the Philippines,
Rangoon, and the route to China.

As a general statement of strategy, the
objectives outlined by the U.S. and Brit-
ish Chiefs of Staff had little relevance
to the immediate emergency in the Far
East where the Japanese were advancing
rapidly on every front. What was needed
was agreement on the apportionment of
the resources of both nations to that
area, and, specifically, the amount to be

assigned each of the vital positions still
in Allied hands but defended by a vari-
ety of national forces and independent
commanders. Both sides were appar-
ently reluctant to enter into detailed
discussions of this subject, but they
agreed that the planners should study
the question of the disposition of the
forces in and en route to the Southwest
Pacific. This study, the Chiefs stipu-
lated, should be based on three alterna-
tive assumptions; first, that the Allies
would hold both the Philippines and
Singapore; second, that they would hold
Singapore and the Netherlands Indies
but lose the Philippines; and third, that
they would lose Singapore and the
Philippines.

The planners went to work on the
problem immediately and quickly pro-
duced a report the Chiefs approved on
the last day of the year. Recognizing
that the forces then in the area could
not hold the positions prescribed and
that immediate reinforcements would
have to be provided, the planners framed
the following statement of Allied aims:

1 . Hold the Malay Barrier, that is the
Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and the
islands stretching eastward to northwest
Australia, "as the basic defensive posi-
tion"; and Burma and Australia "as
essential supporting positions."

2. Re-establish communications with
the Philippines and support the garri-
son there, while maintaining communi-
cations to Burma and Australia and
within the Far East area.

Appended to the report were lists of
the forces already in the theater and
scheduled to arrive by 1 February. These
the planners recommended be deployed
"as now arranged," if the Philippines
and Singapore held, If they did not, the

160

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

reinforcements should be used to defend
the Malay Barrier, Burma, and Australia,
with American troops being used on the
east side of the barrier (Australia) , Brit-
ish and Commonwealth forces on the
west (Burma and India) . Should the
Philippines alone fall to the Japanese —
an admission the Americans were not
yet willing to make to the British who
firmly believed that Singapore would
hold — then U.S. reinforcements would
be employed along the barrier and the
lines of communication to the east. 13

By the time this study was approved,
the Chiefs of Staff had already decided
to set up a unified American command
in the Far East. The dangers and dis-
advantages of command by co-operation
had been made abundantly clear by the
disaster at Pearl Harbor, and Marshall
felt very strongly that unity of command
was perhaps even more important than
the allocation of resources or the assign-
ment of troops. On the 25th, after he
had Brink's report on the Singapore
Conference, he raised the problem with
his American and British colleagues.
"The matters being settled here," he
told them, "are mere details which will
continuously reoccur unless settled in a
broader way. ... I am convinced that
there must be one man in command of
the entire theater. ... If we make a
plan for unified command now, it will
solve nine-tenths of our troubles." With-
out minimizing the difficulties of estab-
lishing such a command over the forces
of four nations, Marshall believed that
it could be done and was willing "to go
the limit" to achieve it. "A man with
good judgment and unity of command,"

he said, "has a distinct advantage over
a man with brilliant judgment who must
rely on cooperation." But the consensus
of the meeting was not in Marshall's
favor and the subject was dropped after
polite comment. 14

The next day Mr. Roosevelt, appar-
ently after discussion with Marshall and
King, raised the question of a unified
command in the Far East at a White
House meeting with Churchill and
others. The Prime Minister, like his
military advisers, did not favor the idea
and there the matter rested for the
moment. But neither the President nor
General Marshall abandoned their fight
and both privately did their utmost to
change Churchill's mind. 15 In this they
were successful so far as the principle of
unified command was concerned but
agreement on the officer who would
exercise such a command and the limits
of his authority was not so easily reached.
Oddly enough, the British wanted an
American and the Americans favored
a British officer, specifically General
Wavell, then Commander-in-Chief,
India, for the post. Finally on 28 Decem-
ber, Churchill agreed to the American
proposal and Wavell was alerted to his
coming appointment. It was decided
also that Wavell, when he assumed com-
mand, would report to the Combined
Chiefs of Staff, then being established,
and that his headquarters would be
located in Java.

Meanwhile U.S. Army planners had
been working on a directive designed

ls ABC-4/3, gi Dec 41; JPC Rpt, 28 Dec 41, sub:
Supporting Measures for SWP, ABC-4/3; Rad, Mar-
shall to MacArthur, 1 Jan 4a, WPD 4639.

J4 Mins, Arcadia Mtg, 25 Dec 41; Memo for File by
Eisenhower, 28 Dec 41, sub: Notes of Chiefs of Staff
Conf, 25 Dec 41, WPD 4639.

"Gerow, Notes on White House Conf, 36 Dec 41,
OPD Exec Files; Mins of White House Conf, 26 Dec
41, WDSCA Conf I; Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hop-
kins, p. 457.

THE MALAY BARRIER

161

primarily to show whether one could be
drawn "which would leave the Supreme
Commander with enough power to im-
prove the situation and still not give
him power to destroy national interests
or to exploit one theater without due
consideration to another." 16 The task
was a difficult one and the results were
not entirely satisfactory, the British
Chiefs objecting on the ground that the
limitations placed on the commander
were too heavy. It was sent to the Allied
planners, therefore, for further study
and a revised draft was prepared. This
one, with slight modifications, proved
acceptable and was finally approved,
though with some reluctance, by all the
governments involved on 10 January

I942- 17

The new command Wavell was to
head was to be known as ABDACOM,
for the initials of the national forces
involved (American, British, Dutch, and
Australian) and included Burma,
Malaya, the Netherlands Indies, and the
Philippines. The inclusion of the Phil-
ippines in Wavell's command was a
formal gesture and one Wavell himself
wished to avoid. 18 Significantly, neither
China nor Aust ralia was included in
the ABDA area. \(Map 2)] As much for
political as military reasons the former
was organized as a separate theater
commanded by Chiang Kai-shek, but
independent of Allied control. The Aus-
tralians, though they protested their

" Mins, Arcadia, 27 Dec 41 .

"ABC-4/5, Directive to Supreme Comdr in ABDA
Area, 10 Jan 42. An earlier version of the directive
can be found in the 30 December meeting of the
conference, and the directive actually issued to
Wavell is dated 2 January, the day after the Presi-
dent and Prime Minister approved it.

,B Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 930, 12 Jan 42,
WPD 4639—14, For additional papers on this subject,
see WPD 4639-19.

omission from the discussions in Wash-
ington and their lack of representation
in the Combined Chiefs of Staff, accepted
the terms of the directive and permitted
their troops in the ABDA area to become
a part of Wavell's command. USAFIA
(U.S. Army Forces in Australia) , how-
ever, was not included in the new com-
mand on the ground that its primary
responsibility was to MacArthur and its
main task to support the defense of the
Philippines. Soon after Wavell assumed
command, when it became apparent that
only limited aid could be sent to the
Philippines, the mission of USAFIA was
broadened to include the support of
operations in the ABDA area. And the
northwest portion of Australia was also
added to ABDACOM at General Wavell's
request. 19

The staff of the new command, it was
understood, would represent all the
nations concerned. The American and
British Chiefs of Staff did not attempt
to name Wavell's staff, but they did seek
to guard against the preponderance of
one nationality in his headquarters.
Thus, they stipulated that his deputy
and the commander of the naval forces
would be Americans, and that a British
officer would command the air forces
and a Dutch officer the ground forces.

The problem of protecting the inter-
ests of each nation represented in
ABDACOM without unduly restricting
the commander was resolved by limit-
ing Wavell's authority to the "effective
coordination of forces." He was given
command of all forces "afloat, ashore,

,9 Romanus and Sunderland, Stiltvell's Mission to
China, pp. 61-63; Rads, Marshall to Barnes, Nos. 206
and 223, 27 and 30 Jan 42, both in WPD 4628-25;
CCS 8, 24 Jan 42, sub: Inclusion of Darwin in ABDA,
ABC 323.31 POA (1-29-42).

THE ABDACOM AREA

January- February 1942

MAP 2

THE MALAY BARRIER

163

and in the air," but was permitted to
exercise that control only through sub-
ordinate commanders whom he could
not relieve and who had the right to
appeal to their governments if they con-
sidered their orders and national inter-
ests to be in conflict. Though he could
assign missions to his forces, form task
forces for specific operations, and appoint
their commanders, he was prohibited
from altering the tactical organization
of the national forces in his command,
using their supplies, or controlling their
communications with the home govern-
ment. And in matters of logistics and
administration he could exercise only
the most general control.

The severe limitations placed on Gen-
eral Wavell's authority were in marked
contrast to the heavy responsibilities laid
upon him by the chiefs in Washington.
Not only was he given the task of main-
taining "as many key positions as possi-
ble" under the strategic objectives
already outlined (that is, to hold the
Malay Barrier, Burma, and Australia) ,
a formidable enough undertaking in
itself, but he was also enjoined "to take
the offensive at the earliest opportunity
and ultimately to conduct an allout
offensive against Japan." "The first
essential," the Chiefs told him, "is to
gain general air superiority at the earli-
est possible moment." With the lesson
of the first Japanese successes still fresh
in mind, they cautioned Wavell against
dispersing his air forces or using them in
piecemeal fashion. 20

These instructions, with their empha-
sis on offensive operations, were probably

"ABC— 4/5, Directive for the Supreme Com-
mander, a Jan 42. A copy is printed in General
Wavell's account entitled "ABDACOM," app. A,
copy in OCMH.

motivated by an understandable reluc-
tance in Washington to dedicate a com-
mand to defensive action, but there was
a clear realization that the forces in the
theater were then and for some time
would be hard pressed even to hold
their own. And even as these instruc-
tions were being written the enemy was
moving swiftly and in force toward those
"key positions" Wavell was to hold.

Having established the ABDA area
and appointed General Wavell its com-
mander, the American and British staffs
in Washington had still to settle the
problem of reinforcements to the South-
west Pacific, for it was obvious with
each passing day that the situation there
was rapidly worsening. This problem
brought the assembled planners up
against the hard fact, which was to
plague them throughout the war, that
there were not enough ships to do all
the jobs required. They had earlier in
the conference agreed 'that American
troops would be sent to Iceland and
northern Ireland, and that landings
might be made in North Africa later in
the year. The shipping requirements
for these operations alone were so great
that the North Atlantic sailings were
approved only on the understanding
that they would be discontinued "if
other considerations intervened." 21 The
necessity for speeding up the schedule of
reinforcements to the Southwest Pacific
created an additional and immediate
demand for the ships already allocated
to the North Atlantic projects and led to
a re-examination of the entire shipping
shortage.

The debate over Atlantic versus Pa-
cific priority on shipping was precipi-

"Notes on White House Mtg, 1 Jan 42, WDCSA
334 Mtgs and Confs.

164

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

tated by Admiral Stark, who, on 1 1
January, a day after General Wavell
arrived in Batavia but before he assumed
command, reviewed the critical situation
in the Far East and raised the question
of diverting ships from the less critical
North Atlantic route to the Pacific. In
this he had the support of General Mar-
shall and Admiral King, but the British,
in the belief that Singapore would hold
and anxious for the Americans to re-
lieve then in Iceland and Ireland, sought
other ways to find the ships. The matter
was finally referred to the shipping ex-
perts who reported the next day that by
delaying the North Atlantic sailings one
month, which would have the effect also
of delaying the proposed North African
operation, and by reducing lend-lease
shipments to the Soviet Union, it would
be possible to send aircraft, gasoline, ar-
tillery, and about 22,000 men across the
Pacific on 20 January and an additional
23,300 British troops shortly after. The
Chiefs accepted this solution, as did the
President and Prime Minister when Mr.
Hopkins assured them that ships would
be found to keep supplies moving to the
Soviet Union. 22 The minimum force
principle for allocation of resources to
the Pacific had now been stretched so
far as to justify the postponement of
troop movements to Iceland and north-
ern Ireland and, in part at least, the
delay of the North African landings. In
the days to come it was to be stretched
even further.

The conference scored one other major
achievement before its close on 14 Janu-
ary. Last on the agenda the British had

submitted before the meeting was an
item calling for the establishment of
"joint machinery" for collaboration.
Just what the British had in mind was
not clear, but in preparation for the
coming discussion the Americans studied
the matter and decided they would seek
as their solution to the problem of col-
laboration the establishment of a Su-
preme Allied War Council, patterned
on the World War I model, and of two
committees to support the council — a
Military Joint Planning Committee and
a Joint Supply Committe. 23

The idea of a Supreme Allied War
Council came up early in the confer-
ence. It quickly became apparent that
the World War I model would hardly
meet the requirements of a global war,
and action was deferred until the more
urgent problems were disposed of. Fi-
nally, on the 13 th, the British returned
to the subject of the organization of the
alliance. By this time the ABDA com-
mand had been created and Admiral Sir
Dudley Pound suggested that the same
pattern be followed on a global scale.
This was entirely agreeable to the
Americans, as was the British suggestion
to avoid confusion between Allied and
national activities by adopting a stand-
ard nomenclature. Joint was to be used
for interservice collaboration of one
nation; combined, for collaboration
between two or more nations. 24

One further matter remained to be
settled — the location of the Allied com-
mand post. The British, naturally,

22 Mins, Arcadia, 11 and 12 Jan 42; ann. 1 to 10th
Mtg, 12 Jan 42; CofS Conf, 12 Jan 42, ABC 337
Arcadia; White House Conf, same date, OPD Reg.
Docs.

23 JB 325, ser 729. For full discussion of this subject,
see Vernon E. Davis, Origins of the Joint and Com-
bined Chiefs of Staff, vol. I, Organizational Develop-
ment, ch. V, History of the JCS in World War II.

"Mins, Arcadia Mtg, 13 Jan 42; Post Arcadia Col-
laboration, 10 Jan 42, an. 4 to Mins, Arcadia, 10
Jun 42.

THE MALAY BARRIER

165

wanted it in London; the Americans, in
Washington. There had been some con-
sideration earlier in the conference of a
dual system operating out of both capi-
tals, but this idea was quickly discarded.
By the 13th it had been virtually decided
that the headquarters of the alliance
would be in Washington. The British
therefore proposed to leave in the
American capital Field Marshal Sir John
Dill to represent Mr. Churchill on the
highest levels, and the heads of the Joint
Staff Mission, the organization estab-
lished after the ABC-i meetings in
March 1940, to represent the Chiefs of
Staff. Similarly, the Americans were to
designate their own officials to represent
the President and the Chiefs of Staff in
London.

The Americans did not favor this
solution. Though they did not object
to Sir John Dill's appointment and even
preferred him to anyone else, they felt
that British representation in Washing-
ton should be limited to the level of the
Chiefs of Staff. The assignment of a
high-ranking British officer in Washing-
ton with access to the President would,
they believed, create many problems.
The proposal also seemed to them to
suggest the dual command post concept.
To General Marshall, "there could be
no question of having any duplication
of the Combined Chiefs of Staff organ-
ization in Washington and London."
Though he had no objection to parallel
subordinate committees, "there could
be," he asserted, "only one Combined
Chiefs of Staff who would give broad di-
rections on the allocation of materiel." 28

The final details for U.S.-British col-
laboration were settled at the last meet-

"Mins, Arcadia Mtg, 15 Jan 48,

ing of the conference. On the evening
of the 13th the Americans prepared a
draft of the arrangements already agreed
upon, which with some modifications was
accepted by the British and became the
basis for the organization of the Com-
bined Chiefs of Staff during the war. 28
As defined by the conferees, the Com-
bined Chiefs of Staff consisted of the
British Chiefs of Staff or their represen-
tatives in Washington, and the U.S.
Chiefs, who, in the accepted terminology,
were designated as the U.S. Joint Chiefs
of Staff. The Combined Chiefs were to
sit in Washington only and to meet
weekly, or more often if necessary. They
were to have a secretariat to maintain
their records and prepare and distribute
their papers, and a staff of planners
designated the Combined Staff Planners
(consisting of the chief American plan-
ners and their British opposite numbers).
This latter group was "to make such
studies, draft such plans, and perform
such other work" as directed by the
Chiefs.

The authority granted to the Com-
bined Chiefs was broad. They were to
"develop and submit recommendations"
for the ABDA area and for the other
areas "in which the United Nations may
decide to act in concert . . . modified as
necessary to meet the particular circum-
stances." To perform these functions,
they were given responsibility for recom-
mending to their political superiors "a
broad program" of the requirements for
implementing strategic decisions and for
preparing general directives establishing
policy governing the distribution of the
weapons of war. Such weapons and war
equipment were to be allocated "in ac-

M ABC-4/CS 4, 14 Jan 42, sub: Post- Arcadia Col-
laboration; Mins, Arcadia Mtg, 14 Jan 42, an. 2.

166

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

cordance with strategical needs" through
appropriate groups in Washington and
London under the authority of the Com-
bined Chiefs. Finally, the Combined
Chiefs were given responsibility to settle
the broad issues of priority for overseas
military movements.

The combined organization estab-
lished at the Arcadia Conference,
though it stemmed in large measure
from the efforts to meet the crisis in the
Southwest Pacific, was patterned on the
ABC-i arrangements and on British
practice. Under the former, an effective
and well-manned British Joint Staff Mis-
sion had been established in Washington,
and it was this body that provided the
basis for a Combined Chiefs of Staff or-
ganization in the American capital.
British experience with committe organ-
ization provided the other key to the
combined system established at Arcadia.
Thus, the Combined Chiefs were respon-
sible to the President and Prime Minis-
ter in much the same way as the British
Chiefs were already responsible to
Churchill in his dual capacity as Prime
Minister and Minister of Defense. 27 And
the organization of the U.S. Joint Chiefs
of Staff that emerged during the months
after the Arcadia Conference was shaped
in large degree by the necessity for pro-
viding American counterparts to the
highly developed system of committees
and secretariats under the British Chiefs'
and the War Cabinet.

The ABDACOM Interlude

While the American and British heads
of state with their military staffs were
in Washington establishing the strategic

"Davis, Origins of Joint and Combined Chiefs of
Staff, I, p. 26g.

basis and the organization for the con-
duct of the war, the Japanese Army and
Navy had continued their drive into
Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pa-
cific with unabated vigor. Operations
during the first phase of their plan for
seizing the southern area had been re-
markably successful and in the first week
of January 1942 they opened the second
phase. The objectives of this phase of the
plan included the seizure of the Bis-
marck Archipelago and Malay Peninsula;
the capture of Singapore; and, in prepa-
ration for the final assault on Java, heart
of the Indies, the acquisition of air and
naval bases in southern Sumatra, Dutch
Borneo, the Celebes, Amboina, and
Timor. The occupation of Java itself
and of northern Sumatra was scheduled
for the third phase, after which the Japa-
nese would complete their operations in
Burma and consolidate their position in
the conquered area. All these operations
were to be completed by the end of
April, in time to meet possible attack
from the Soviet Union, which, the Japa-
nese believed, would come in the spring,
if it came at all that year.

In Malaya there was no clear demarca-
tion between the first and second phase.
There the Japanese, driving in two col-
umns down the east and west coasts of
the peninsula, continued to advance
without halt. Combining amphibious
encirclement with frontal assault, Gen-
eral Yamashita was able to force the
stubborn British defenders back time
after time until by 10 January he stood
at the gates of Kuala Lumpur, on the
west coast of Malaya, which his 5th
Division captured the next day. His
eastern column meanwhile had advanced
to within 100 miles of Singapore. By the
middle of the month, he had united his

THE MALAY BARRIER

167

General ter Poorten greets General
Wavell (left) on his arrival at Batavia.

two columns and was preparing to at-
tack the single line the gallant defenders
had formed before the plain which con-
stitutes the southern tip of the
peninsula. 28

So rapidly had their forces moved and
so light had been resistance that even
before the end of the year Japanese com-
manders in the field were urging their
superiors in Tokyo to speed the time-
table of conquest. In the last week of
December, Field Marshal Hisaichi Ter-
auchi, commander of the Southern
Army, and Vice Adm. Nobutake Kondo,
2d Fleet commander, jointly recom-
mended advancing the schedule of op-
erations against Sumatra and Borneo,

™2*jth Army Opns in Malaya, Japanese Studies in
World War II, 85; Despatch by Lt Gen A. E. Perci-
val, Opns of Malaya Command, 8 Dec 41-15 Feb 42,
Supplement to the London Gazette, February so,
1948. Kirby, et al, The Loss of Singapore, chs. XIV,
XVII.

thus making possible the invasion of
Java a month earlier than planned. At
Imperial General Headquarters the Ter-
auchi-Kondo proposal met a favorable
reception, for it would not only speed
operations in the south and keep the
enemy off balance but it would also make
available at an earlier date the troops
needed in Manchuria if the Soviet
Union should enter the war — a danger
that continued to haunt the Japanese.
Early in January, therefore, Imperial
General Headquarters approved the
recommendation and advanced the time-
table for the seizure of the southern
area. 29

The first signs of the increased tempo
of Japanese operations in the Nether-
lands Indies came very quickly. Late in
December the Japanese had gained con-
trol of British Borneo and the South
China Sea approaches to the Malay
Barrier. Now, in the first week of Janu-
ary, the 16th Army, which had been
given the 38th Division to accelerate its
drive into the Indies, completed its prep-
arations for the advance. At Davao in
the southern Philippines it organized
two task forces, one to take the import-
ant oil center of Tarakan in northern
Borneo, and the other Menado in the
Celebes. Both left Davao at the same
time, 9 January. The first landed at
Tarakan on 1 1 January and, after over-
coming slight resistance from the Dutch
defenders aided by American B-17's
based near Surabaya, took that town the
same day. The second force, reinforced
by about 330 naval paratroopers and
supported by the seaplane tenders
Chitose and Mizuho and three heavy
cruisers, took Menado at the same time.

''Hist of Army Section, Imperial GHQ (rev. ed.),
Japanese Studies in World War II, 72, pp. 42-43.

168

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The seizure of these two points com-
pleted the Japanese control of the
Celebes Sea and the northern approaches
to Makassar Strait. Through that strait
lay one of the routes to Java. 30

It was at this juncture, on 10 January,
that General Wavell reached Batavia,
capital of the Netherlands Indies, lo-
cated on the northwest coast of Java.
Already there or soon to arrive were his
deputy, General Brett, and the com-
manders of his ground and naval force,
Lt. Gen. H. ter Poorten and Admiral
Hart. In the absence of Air Marshal Sir
Richard E. C. Peirse, General Brereton
was appointed deputy commander of the
air forces. On the 15th, General Wavell
formally assumed command of the
ABDA area (ABDACOM) with head-
quarters at Lembang, inland from the
capital and about ten miles north of

Bandoeng. 31 (Chart 2)

From the start it was apparent that
the defense of the ABDA area, even in
the unlikely event that the promised re-
inforcements arrived in time, had little
chance of success. Already the Japanese
had taken Hong Kong, isolated the Phil-
ippines, landed in Borneo and the
Celebes, and were making rapid progress
down the Malay Peninsula. To oppose
their advance Wavell had, in addition to
the British forces fighting a losing battle
in Malaya and the American forces in
the Philippines, two Dutch divisions in
Java and small Dutch garrisons else-

x Hist of Southern Army, Japanese Studies in
World War II, 24, pp. 16, 19; Naval Opns in Invasion
of NEI, Japanese Studies in World War II, 17, pp.
18—20; Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, pp.
280-281; Craven and Cate, AAF I, p. 380. The tenders
were later converted into light carriers.

"Rads, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 930, 12 Jan 42;
to Brereton, No. 52, same date, both in WPD Msg
File; Wavell, "ABDACOM," pp. 1-2.

where in the Indies; a naval force — in-
cluding the U.S. Asiatic Fleet — of 1
heavy and 8 light cruisers, 23 destroyers,
and 36 submarines; and an air force of
4 fighter and 6 bomber squadrons, in-
cluding the remnants of the Far East Air
Force, plus 250 more planes in Burma
and Malaya. With these meager forces
General Wavell could only try to hold
back the Japanese tide while waiting for
reinforcements which never came. 32

The urgent need for reinforcements
was only one of Wavell's problems.
Keeping the peace within his own small
international headquarters, unraveling
the confused command relationships be-
tween his forces, and reconciling con-
flicting national interests and strategic
concepts were others almost as serious.
Even so minor a matter as the location of
the headquarters could not be settled
amicably and it was only after he had
overridden the strong objections of his
naval commanders that Wavell estab-
lished his headquarters at Lembang. 38

The relationship between Wavell and
MacArthur, though it created no diffi-
culties, illustrated the confused situation
in ABDACOM. In addition to the task
of holding the Malay Barrier, Wavell
had also been instructed to re-establish
communications with Luzon and to sup-
port the Philippine garrison. Before
assuming command, he objected to this
assignment and proposed that the islands
be excluded from the ABDA area. Pres-
ident Roosevelt, without consulting his
military advisers, approved this sugges-
tion to avoid any delay in Wavell's as-
sumption of command. When General
Marshall learned of this action he saw

"Wavell, "ABDACOM," pp. 16-18.
"Narrative of Events, Asiatic Fleet, Leading up to
War, 8 Dec 41 to 15 Feb 4a, pp. 54-55, OCMH.

Chart 2 — Organization of ABDACOM, January-February 1942

SUPREME COMMANDER

ABDA AREA
GENERAL WAVELL, BRITISH

DEPUTY COMMANDER

LT GEN GEORGE H. BRETT, U.S.

CHIEF OF STAFF

LT GEN SIR H. R. POWNALL, BRITISH

Deputy Intendant General
(Administration)

Naval Forces

Admiral Hart, U.S.

Deputy: Rear Adm A. F. E. Pulliser

British

Land Forces
CG: Lt Gen H. terPoorten, Dutch

Deputy and CofS;
Maj Gen I S. O. Playfair, British

Air Forces CG: Air Marshal

Sir Richard Peine, British
Deputy; Maj Gen Brerefon, U.S..

Intelligence

U.S. Forces
Rear Adm Glassford

Dutch Forces

Rear Adm

J. A. A. van Staveren

Malaya

Lt Gen A. E. Peicival

British

British (and Australian) Forces

Comdr J. A. Collins

Australian

Netherlands East Indies
Lt Gen ter Poorlen

Dutch

Task Forces

Philippines
General MacAtfhur

as.

Darwin Sub-Command
(Australian)

NORGROUP
(Burma)
British

WESGROUP

(Malaya, Sumatra)

British

CENGROUP

(Western Java & Southern Sumatra)

Dutch

RECGROUP

(Reconnaissance)

Dutch (with U.S. Deputy)

EASGROUP

(Eastern Java)

U.S.

Source: ABDACOM, pp. 3-8

AUSGROUP

(Molucca Sea fo Australia)

U.S. or Australian

170

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

ABDA Command meeting with General Wavellfor the first time. Seated around the table,
from left: Admirals Layton, Helfrich, and Hart, General ter Poorten, Colonel Kengen, Royal
Netherlands Army (at head of table), and Generals Wavell, Brett, and Brereton.

that it might well have an adverse effect
upon morale in the Philippines and was
contrary to the ABDA agreement. An
important reason for the establishment
of Wavell's command had been the de-
sire to co-ordinate the efforts of the
Allies in the Far East, and the United
States had allocated to the defense of
ABDA aircraft which had been under
MacArthur's command or sent out orig-
inally for his use. With King's support,
therefore, Marshall recommended to the
President that he rescind his earlier mes-
sage. The President saw the point im-
mediately, and Wavell was told the day
after he assumed command that the
Philippines would remain in his area. 34

M Rad, Wavell to British Chiefs of Staff, ABDA 48,
14 Jan 42; Memo, WPD for U.S. Secy CCS, 16 Jan 42,
both in WPD 4639-19; Ltr, U.S. Secy CCS to Brig V.
Dykes, 16 Jan 42, sub: Responsibility of Supreme
Commander ABDA, ABC 381 SWPA (1-12^2).

The establishment of the ABDA area
made necessary also a reshuffling of the
U.S. Army commands already in exist-
ence in the Southwest Pacific and South-
east Asia. Although MacArthur was
assured by the War Department that the
establishment of ABDACOM would not
alter his position or affect his forces, he
actually lost a part of his command. The
U.S. Army Forces in Australia were then
a part of USAFFE (U.S. Army Forces,
Far East) and under MacArthur's direc-
tion. Now he was told that these forces
would be formed into a separate com-
mand on a level with USAFFE and
placed under General Brereton, who
had been selected because of his "inti-
mate knowledge of your situation and
needs." The reason for this move was
that the Japanese advance into the Indies
had made control by MacArthur of the
forces in Australia and the Netherlands

THE MALAY BARRIER

171

Indies impractical. But, he was assured,
"when satisfactory communications with
the Philippines have once been reestab-
lished your resumption of actual com-
mand of all American Army forces in the
Far East will be easily accomplished." 35

Other than the paper changes in com-
mand, the establishment of ABDACOM
had no effect on operations in the Philip-
pines. MacArthur reported formally by
radio to his new superior and sent repre-
sentatives from Mindanao to Java to
solicit what aid they could, but the rela-
tionship between the two headquarters
was never more than nominal.

General Brereton's assignment as air
commander in the ABDA area, pending
the arrival of Air Marshal Pierse, com-
plicated an already confusing situation.
Brereton was also commander of U.S.
Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA) , a
post General Brett had held before him,
and in this capacity also came under
Wavell's control. But this control was
only partial, for, as the War Department
explained to Brereton, "U.S. troops in
Australian territory come under the
control of General Wavell only when
specifically allotted for service in the
ABDA area." 36

The physical difficulties of exercising
command simultaneously over USAFIA,
a logistical and administrative head-
quarters in Australia, and over ABDAIR,
an operational headquarters in Java, as
well as the conflicting missions of the
two, made it imperative to clarify
Brereton's status. On the 16th, there-
fore, a day after he assumed command,

General Wavell, at Brereton's request,
asked Marshall to relieve Brereton of
his responsibilities in Australia so that
he could concentrate on the full-time
job of directing his air forces. This was
quickly done, and General Barnes, who
had in effect been directing the activi-
ties of USAFIA since the isth, was au-
thorized to assume command of base
facilities in Australia. 37

Barnes himself seems to have been
somewhat confused about his status and
responsibilities for he was never formally
designated as a commander of USAFIA
and Brereton continued to receive mes-
sages addressed to him with that title.
Moreover, when Brereton had difficulty
getting logistical support from Australia
that he wanted, he complained to the
War Department, which promptly in-
formed Barnes that he was to provide
that support as best he could. At the
same time, the War Department made it
clear to Barnes that he was not under
Brereton's but Wavell's command, and
that General Brett, as Wavell's deputy,
could issue orders to him. So far as the
War Department was concerned this
ended the matter, but General Barnes,
even at the end of January, was appar-
ently not clear on his relationship to
ABDACOM "in general" and to General
Brett "in particular regarding troops
and supplies in Australia." 38

Not only was there confusion over
command in the ABDA area, but na-
tional commanders differed with one

Jan 42,

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 930,
WPD 4639-14.

M Rad, WD to Brereton, No. 52, 12 Jan 42, WPD
4628-20; Marshall to MacArthur, No. 930, same date,
WPD 4639-14-

37 Rads, Brett to Marshall, ABDA 7 and 22, 15 and
16 Jan 42, WPD Msg File; Wavell to Marshall, ABDA
71, 16 Jan 42; Marshall to Wavell, No. 25, same date;
both in WPD 4639—19.

38 Rads, Barnes to Marshall, No. 130, 29 Jan 42;
No. 138, 31 Jan 42, WPD Msg File; Marshall to
Barnes, No. 20S and 223, 27 and 30 Jan 42; Marshall
to Brett, No. 48, 27 Jan 42, all in WPD 4628-25.

172

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

another and with the Supreme Com-
mander over the conduct of operations
and the allocation of resources. To the
American, Dutch, and Australian offi-
cers, it seemed that General Wavell was
devoting far too much attention, as well
as a disproportionate share of Allied re-
sources, to the defense of Malaya, Singa-
pore, and Burma, an attitude that
seemed to them to reflect British rather
than Allied interests. The American
commanders, Admiral Hart and Gen-
eral Brereton, free from any territorial
interest in the area, wished to protect
the lines of communication and air and
naval bases along the Malay Barrier,
which they believed essential links in
defensive structure of the Southwest
Pacific and the starting points for offen-
sive operations. The Dutch desired
above all else to concentrate Allied re-
sources on the defense of their territories.
And the Australians, concerned over the
defense of the homeland, continually
pressed for a greater share of the theater's
resources on the east. If General Wavell
made any effort to reconcile these views,
the records do not show it. Despite the
representations of the national com-
manders to their governments — in
Washington Brett's were refuted by the
Army planners, as was his proposal to
break up the new theater — Wavell con-
tinued to act on the assumption that the
security of the Netherlands Indies and
Australia depended on the defense of
Malaya and Singapore. 39

These difficulties were brought out
sharply in the discussion of naval rein-

39 Hart, Narrative of Events, passim; Lewis H.
Brereton, The Brereton Diaries (New York: William
Morrow and Company, 1946, pp. 88—89; Memo, WPD
for TAG, 17 Jan 42, sub: Comd in ABDA, WPD
4639-29; Rad, Brett to Marshall, ABDA 95, OPD
Exec Files.

forcements. Most of the British and
Dutch vessels in the area were assigned
to convoy duty, leaving only the U.S.
Asiatic Fleet, based on Surabaya, free
for operations. The Dutch, whose naval
forces were under the operational con-
trol of the British, were none too happy
over this assignment, preferring to em-
ploy their vessels in the defense of Dutch
territory. Their irritation was further
increased by the British announcement
of the transfer of some of their cruisers
and destroyers to the Indian Ocean and
American refusal to provide naval rein-
forcements for convoy duty. Ultimately
the Australians were persuaded to send
additional vessels into the area, but the
damage had been done and the Dutch
resentment persisted. 40

The Dutch were displeased also with
the way naval operations were being con-
ducted. Admiral Hart, they felt, had his
forces too far back and was showing
more concern over Darwin and the sup-
ply routes to Australia than over the
progress of the enemy through Makassar
Strait and the Molucca Sea. They were
disappointed, too, over their failure to
gain command of the naval elements in
ABDA. Their interests, they felt, were
predominant and their knowledge of the
area greater than that of the Americans.
This attitude, which Dutch naval offi-
cers made little effort to conceal, added
to Hart's already considerable burdens
and complicated his task enormously.

By the end of January, relations be-
tween Admiral Hart and the Dutch
naval commander had become so strained
that they could no longer be ignored.
It was then that General Wavell sug-
gested to the Prime Minister that Hart

* Hayes, The War Against Japan, ch. Ill, pp.
i7-ao.

THE MALAY BARRIER

173

be relieved on account of his age and
that a Dutch officer, or, if the United
States would send naval reinforcements
to the ABDA area, a younger American
be given command. The suggestion was
passed on to Washington and finally to
Hart himself who replied that he did
not consider himself too old to discharge
his duties and did not wish to be relieved.
Though both Admirals King and Stark
supported the Asiatic Fleet commander,
the President decided to adopt Wavell's
suggestion. His decision was influenced
largely by the fact that the United States
had refused to send naval reinforcements
to the area and by the hope that the
Dutch would assume a more active role
in the naval defense of ABDA. There
was never any feeling, Admirals King
and Stark later recalled, that Hart had
proved unfit or that he was too old to
exercise command. After the President
had made his decision Hart had no re-
course but to step down, which he did
on the 5th by asking to be relieved on
account of ill health, a course Admiral
Stark had recommended to him. Six
days later the Secretary of the Navy
ordered him home. 41 His place was
taken by Vice Adm. Conrad E. L.
Helfrich, Dutch naval commander.

With the relief of Admiral Hart,
ABDACOM lost its last American force
commander. Air Marshall Pierse had
taken over from General Brereton on
28 January, as originally intended, and
the Dutch continued to command the
ground forces. The U.S. Chiefs, anxious
to secure direction of one of the major
elements in ABDACOM in the interests
of "homeland support," put forward
Brett's name as commander of the

Admirals Helfrich and Hart

Allied air forces. Both the President and
the Prime Minister supported the nomi-
nation, but Brett seems to have had
larger ambitions and argued that such a
"drastic change" would be unsettling.
The matter was dropped. 42

While the Allies sought to solve the
problem of command and bring rein-
forcements into the area, the Japanese
continued to advance almost without
interruption. In Malaya General Yama-
shita forced the British back from line
after line until on 27 January Lt. Gen.
A. E. Percival, the British commander in
Malaya, withdrew his forces to Singa-
pore. The causeway connecting the fort-
ress to the mainland was blown on 31
January. Only the waters of Johore
Strait lay between Yamashita and his goal.

For a week, while the Singapore gar-

>l Ibid., pp. 20-22; Hart, Narrative of Events; Mins,
CCS Mtg, 10 Feb 42.

^Rads, Marshall to Brett, No. 73, 4 Feb 42, WPD
4628-27; Brett to Marshall, 3 Feb 42, AB 371

(2-3-42).

174

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

rison desperately prepared its defenses,
Japanese aircraft and artillery paved the
way for the final assault. Shortly before
midnight of 8 February, under cover of
an extremely heavy artillery bombard-
ment, the Japanese began to cross the
straits. By the morning of the gth, they
had established a firm position on the
island and were pouring reinforcements
into the lodgment area. From there the
Japanese spread over the island, infiltrat-
ing the defender's lines and isolating
them into small pockets of resistance.
On the 15th General Percival, with his
water, food, and ammunition gone, de-
cided that further resistance was impos-
sible. That afternoon, he met Yamashita
at the Ford Motor Factory and formally
surrendered his command, an act which
symbolized the end of British imperial
power in the Far East. 43

The loss of Singapore was a major
blow to the Allied cause in the Far East
and a disaster of the first magnitude for
the British who had long regarded it as
an impregnable fortress and the key to
the defense of Australia, New Zealand,
and India. Fortunately, the British es-
timate of the importance of Singapore to
the security of the Dominions proved in-
correct, but that did not lessen the imme-
diate shock or minimize the seriousness
of the blow to the British Far Eastern
Fleet, which had already suffered the loss
of the Prince of Wales and Repulse.
With its base gone, the British Navy
now had to retire to Sydney in Australia
and to Ceylon, and when Ceylon was
threatened briefly in April, to the east
coast of Africa.

"Percival, Opns in Malaya; 25 tk Army Opns in
Malaya, Japanese Studies in World War II, 85, pp.
5&-110; Wavell, "ABDACOM," pp. 32-42; Kirby,
et al, The Loss 0/ Singapore, ch. XXIV.

For ABDACOM, which had been
established only a month before, the fall
of Singapore was a crushing blow. In
anticipation of this disaster, General
Wavell had warned the Chiefs of Staff
on the 13 th that a drastic change in plans
might soon be necessary. It was doubt-
ful, he wrote, that Sumatra, obviously
the next Japanese objective, could be
held, and if it were not, then Java would
fall. Though he told the Chiefs he in-
tended to continue his present plans for
the defense of Java "until situation en-
forces changes," it was apparent by the
13th that he had no real hope for suc-
cess, a view that was reinforced by his
recommendation to divert reinforce-
ments, two Australian divisions, already
en route from the Middle East to Java,
to Australia or Burma, preferably the
latter. 44

The Dutch took violent exception to
Wavell's estimate. They insisted that
Java must be defended, regardless of the
fate of Sumatra. To them and to the
Netherlands Government-in-exile Java
had an even greater political, moral, and
sentimental significance than Singapore
had for the British. Wavell's proposal
seemed to them an abandonment by their
Allies and confirmed their worst fears
that ABDACOM was a device to use
Allied resources for the defense of Singa-
pore and of British interests in the Far
East.

Unpalatable as it was to the Dutch,
Wavell's estimate had to be accepted for
not only was Singapore about to fall into
Japanese hands, but Java was clearly
threatened from three directions — the
South China Sea, Makassar Strait, and
Molucca Sea. Following up the Borneo

"Rads, Wavell to CCS, 13 Feb 42, CCOS 7; Wavell
to CCS, 15 Feb 42, CCOS 8, OPD ABDA Msg File.

THE MALAY BARRIER

175

landings of late December and early
January, the Japanese, moving by water
through Makassar Strait, had landed at
Balikpapan on the 24th. The landings
had been made only after a battle with
U.S. naval forces — their first of the war
— in which the American destroyers won
a tactical victory but failed to stop the
enemy. The Japanese took Balikpapan
easily but failed to capture the oil re-
fineries there. These, the Dutch had
already gutted.

From Balikpapan, the Japanese moved
on to Bandjermasin, along the southeast
coast of Borneo, which they took on 10
February. Only a day before, another
Japanese force had sailed through the
Molucca Sea to land at Makassar on the
southwest tip of Celebes Island, facing
Makassar Strait. By 10 February that
strait and the north shore of the Java
Sea were under Japanese control.

The Molucca Sea approach to the
Malay Barrier fell into Japanese hands
as a result of amphibious hops and
naval-air engagements in which the
Allies fought a desperate but losing
battle. From Menado, which they had
taken on 1 1 January, the Japanese moved
on to Kendari on the 24th, the same day
they landed at Balikpapan. Amboina
Island was occupied a week later by a
strong force which overcame the small
Dutch and Australian garrison with little
difficulty. By the end of the month the
Japanese controlled the Molucca Sea and
were in position to cut the line between
Java and Australia and to breach the
east flank of the Malay Barrier.

On the western flank of the barrier,
the Japanese had early secured the South
China Sea approaches and on 9 February,
without waiting for the fall of Singapore,
launched their attack on southern Su-

matra. From Camranh Bay in Indo-
china came a strong naval force to
support the transports headed for
Palembang with its airfield and oil re-
finery. On the 14th about 700 para-
troopers were dropped in the Palembang
area, but achieved only a limited success
against the Dutch and British defenders.
At the end of the day Allied troops were
still in control, but next morning, when
the main Japanese force landed upshore
and began to move toward Palembang,
they withdrew. Two days later, the Japa-
nese were in control of southern Su-
matra, leaving the northern part of the
island to the conquerors of Singapore.
Only the Straits of Sunda now separated
the Japanese from their main objective,
Java. 45

By 16 February, three days after
Wavell had told the Combined Chiefs in
Washington that he might not be able
to hold Sumatra, the situation in the
ABDA area had rapidly worsened. There
was no longer any chance of holding
Java, Wavell now told the Chiefs. Its
loss would be serious, he asserted, and
would deprive the Allies of their only
base in the South China Sea. But, he
pointed out, the fall of Java would not
be fatal to the Allied cause. Burma and
Australia, not Java, he declared, were
the "absolutely vital" positions in the
war against Japan. He therefore recom-
mended again that the two Australian
divisions be diverted to Burma, with

■"For accounts of these operations, see Wavell,
"ABDACOM," pp. 52-67; Morison The Rising Sun
in the Pacific, pp. 280-311; Craven and Cate, AAF I,
ch I, ch X; Hist of Southern Army, Japanese Studies
in World War II, 24, pp. 16, 19; Naval Opns in
Invasion of NEI, Japanese Studies in World War
II, 17, pp. 18—20, 22—23, 26-27; Ambon and Timor
Invasions, Japanese Studies in World War II, 30,
pp. 1-15.

176

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Americans providing reinforcements for
Australia.* 6

Washington agreed with Wavell's es-
timate of the probable loss of Java.
Reinforcement was evidendy futile and
the wisest course, the Combined Chiefs
thought, would be to send at least one
of the Australian divisions to Burma and
the other to Australia. It was clear also
that the fall of Java would split the
ABDA area and make a co-ordinated
defense of its eastern and western ex-
tremities impossible. The British there-
fore suggested that Burma be taken out
of ABDACOM and transferred to their
command in India, a proposal that the
U.S. Chiefs and General Wavell, who
had always believed Burma was an inte-
gral part of the Indian command, readily
accepted. This was accomplished formal-
ly on 2 1 February. 47 The plan for send-
ing the Australian divisions to Burma,
however, came to naught. Concerned
over the defense of their own country,
the Australians persistently refused, de-
spite strong appeals from Churchill and
Roosevelt, to permit the diversion of
these divisions to Burma, and finally, on
23 February, they were ordered home. 48

Though the loss of Java was conceded
by all except the Dutch, there was a re-
luctance to act on this assumption. To
do so would create the impression that
the Americans and British were desert-

*"Rad, Wavell to Prime Minister and Dill, 16 Feb
42, OPD ABDA Msg File.

"'Mins, CCS Mtg, 17 Feb 42; Rads, CCS to
ABDACOM, 17 and 21 Feb 42; ABDACOM to CCS,
19 Feb 42, OPD ABDA Msg File.

"For a full discussion of this matter, see Lionel
Wigmore, The Japanese Thrust, ser. I, vol, 4, "Aus-
tralia in the War of 1939—1945" (Canberra: Aus-
tralian War Memorial, 1957), pp. 442—65. Churchill's
account of this incident is somewhat different. Win-
ston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950), pp. 155-66.

ing their Dutch allies. On the 20th,
therefore, the Combined Chiefs, assert-
ing that "every day gained is of import-
ance," directed Wavell to defend Java
"with the utmost resolution" and not to
withdraw or surrender any of the troops
there. To minimize the loss of Allied
troops in Java, the Chiefs specifically
prohibited Wavell from reinforcing that
island further, but did give him discre-
tion to use his naval forces and American
planes in Australia as he thought best. 49

Even as these fresh instructions were
being received at ABDACOM, the Japa-
nese were making their execution impos-
sible. On the igth, they landed on the
southern tip of Bali, immediately to the
east of Java. Next day they landed on
Timor, half of which was Dutch and
half Portuguese. Control of these islands,
lying between Java and northwest Aus-
tralia, completed the isolation of Java,
placed Japanese land-based fighters with-
in bombing range of the Dutch base at
Surabaya, and made further reinforce-
ments from Australia impossible.

With the Japanese making ready for
the final assault on Java, General Wavell
turned to his superiors for new instruc-
tions. Their orders were to transfer
command of Java to the Dutch and with-
draw, but to maintain ABDACOM and
keep his headquarters intact. When and
where he would go was left to him.
Ground forces "for whom there are
arms" were to remain and continue the
fight, but air forces that could operate
from bases outside Java and other troops
"who cannot contribute to defense"
were to be withdrawn, the Americans and
Australians to go to Australia. General
Brett was to return to Australia, when

"Rad, CCS to ABDACOM, DBA 19, 20 Feb 42,
OPD ABDA Msg File.

THE MALAY BARRIER

177

released by Wavell, to command the U.S.
forces there. 60

The ABDA commander did not agree
with the program. What he wanted was
the dissolution of ABDACOM, all rea-
son for its existence having disappeared.
Burma, he pointed out, had already been
separated from the ABDA theater and
Java's defense was a local problem, best
handled by the Dutch themselves. If the
Philippines, which had never really been
under his control, were taken over by
the Americans again and northwest Aus-
tralia by the Australians, he told the
Chiefs, he could turn over his remaining
forces to the Dutch and leave the area
by 25 February. 51

This recommendation was in line with
the solution being proposed by the
British Chiefs of Staff for the establish-
ment of two areas in the Far East, one
to be under American control and to
include Australia; the other a British
area encompassing India and the Indian
Ocean. The Dutch opposed such a solu-
tion for fear it would mean the end of
Allied assistance in the Netherlands
Indies. 'For God's sake," wrote the Dutch
governor-general to Marshall, "take the
strong and active decisions and don't
stop sending materials and men." 52

Still anxious to avoid the appearance
of abandoning their allies, the U.S.
Chiefs continued to oppose the dissolu-
tion of ABDACOM. But in recognition
of the fact that Wavell had lost the con-

"Rads, CCS to ABDACOM, DBA 20 and 22, 21 and
22 Feb 42, OPD ABDA Msg File; Marshall to Brett,
No. 185, 21 Feb 42, WPD 4639-48; Mins, CCS Mtg,
21 Feb 42.

"Rads, ABDACOM to CCS, CCOS 19 and 20, 22
and 23 Feb 42, OPD ABDA Msg File.

ra Rad, H. J. Van Mook to Marshall, 22 Feb 42,
OPD ABDA Msg File.

fidence of the Dutch and obviously
wanted to pull out, they agreed to the
dissolution of his headquarters and his
transfer to India, leaving control of the
ABDA area to the Dutch. And lest the
Dutch should think that the Americans
had made this arrangement to shirk their
commitments, Marshall assured the
Dutch governor that the forces then as-
sembling in Australia were "seeking
opportunity to enter the ABDA battle"
and would "continue their full support
of the Dutch commanders in their
magnificent fight." 63

On the 25 th General Wavell turned
over command to the Dutch and left for
India where General Brereton had al-
ready gone to organize an American air
force. This move placed MacArthur
technically under the Dutch, but he had
already been told that "because of your
special situation all procedures in your
case remain as heretofore." 54 The bur-
den of defending Java was now squarely
on the Dutch. Their forces, with the
exception of minor ground units (in-
cluding an American artillery battalion),
American and British naval units, and
a small U.S.-Australian fighter force,
composed the entire command.

There was still a chance that fighters
could be brought in by sea, though the
air ferry route had been closed by the
Japanese seizure of Timor. To this task
was assigned the aircraft tender Langley,
which on 23 February had been ordered
to Tjilatjap, on the south coast of Java,

n Rad, Marshall to Van Mook, 24 Feb 42, WPD
4639-55; British COS to Joint StaH Mission, No. 76,
23 Feb 42, ABC 323.31 POA; Mins, CCS Mtg, 23 Feb
42; CCS to ABDACOM, DBA 23, 23 Feb 42, OPD
ABDA Msg File.

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 1083, 24 Feb
42, WPD 4639-54.

178

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

with its cargo of thirty- two assembled
P— 40's and their pilots. On the 27th,
almost within sight of Java, it was spot-
ted by Japanese patrol planes and sunk.
The freighter Seawitch with 27 P-40's in
her hold had left Fremantle at the same
time, but sailed separately and made its
way successfully to Java. It arrived there
on the eve of invasion and the P— 40's,
still crated, were dumped into the sea
to prevent their capture. 65

Meanwhile the Japanese had com-
pleted their preparations for the invasion
of Java. D-day was set for 28 February.
Supporting the invasion was the largest
force of warships the Japanese had yet
assembled for an amphibious operation.
In it were four battleships, led by Ad-
miral Kondo, a carrier group led by
Admiral Nagumo of Pearl Harbor fame,
and the two attack forces, each now con-
siderably reinforced.

The approach of the Japanese was
carefully traced by the Allies, and Ad-
miral Helfrich, Hart's successor as Allied
naval commander, estimated that the
convoys would reach Javanese waters
early on the 27th. Hurriedly he made his
plans to meet the attack with a woefully
inferior naval force led by Rear Adm.
K. W. F. M. Doorman. All Doorman
had were 2 heavy cruisers, one of them
the USS Houston, 3 light cruisers, and
1 1 destroyers. Contact between the op-
posing forces came shortly after 1500 of
the 27th, and the fight that began then
raged throughout the afternoon and into
the night. By the time the battle of the
Java Sea was over the Allies had lost
half their ships, including the flagship

"Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, pp. 359-
63; Craven and Cate, AAF I, 396-98.

and Admiral Doorman. The Japanese
had not lost a single vessel. 86

During the next few days the Japanese
completed their control of the air and
sea approaches to Java. From their
circle of bases surrounding the island
patrol planes kept constant watch while
bombers completed the destruction of
Allied airfields and military installations.
At the same time the powerful battle
fleet ranged the waters of the Java Sea
to hunt down the remnants of the Allied
fleet which were split between Surabaya
and Batavia, seeking some way to make
their escape into the Indian Ocean. The
last fight began on the night of 28 Feb-
ruary when the heavy cruisers USS Hou-
ston and H.M.S. Exeter, accompanied by
the light cruisers H.M.A.S. Perth and
two destroyers, tried to slip through
Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra.
The Japanese had already closed the
strait and the Allied warships sailed into
a trap. That night, in a vigorous battle
which lasted past midnight, the Houston
and Perth went down. Next day, 1
March, the Exeter was sunk off the coast
of Borneo.

Meanwhile the Japanese convoys had
come in for the landing. On the way
the convoy was attacked by three sub-
marines and the remaining planes of the
Allied air force, about ten light bombers
and fifteen fighters, and suffered some
damage. But the landing was accom-
plished without serious difficulty, and by
morning of the 1st the Japanese were
consolidating their positions and rapidly
expanding the beachheads.

"For an exciting account of the battle, see Mori-
son, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, pp. 342—59. An
analysis of the battle is contained in Rear Adm
William A. Glassford, Narrative of Events in the
SW Pacific, 14 Feb-5 Apr 42, WDCSA 210.7a (5-20-
42) SPA.

THE MALAY BARRIER

179

Though the Dutch had concentrated
their remaining ground forces in Java,
mostly in the western portion of the
island, the issue was never in doubt.
The Japanese moved inland rapidly,
splitting the Dutch Army on the island
and isolating the defenders into small
groups. Batavia fell on the 2d without
a struggle, after the government moved
inland to Bandoeng. It was not safe even
there, for the Japanese closed in on this
mountain retreat and by the 8th were in
position to attack the remnants of the
Dutch Army defending it. The next
morning the Dutch surrendered and the
fight for Java was over. 57

For the Japanese, the conquest of the
Indies was the crowning achievement of
the war. It realized their long-cherished
dream of empire. The rich resources of
Southeast Asia, the oil, rubber, and
manganese needed for war and for the
control of Asia, were now in their pos-
session. And all this had been won in
three months.

For the Allies the fall of Java marked
the loss of the Malay Barrier, "the basic
defensive position" in the Far East. The
strategic significance of this loss was
enormous. Not only did the Allies lose
the resources of the Indies and their lines
of communications northward, but they
found themselves in a perilous position,
split into two areas and threatened by
invasion. The gateway to the Indian
Ocean lay open and Australia and India
were in dire danger. And the Allies
could ill afford to lose the ships, planes,
and men that went down in the heroic
defense of Malaya, Singapore, and the
Indies.

"Invasion of the NEI, Japanese Studies in World
War II, 16; Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific,
PP' 363—75; Craven and Cate, AAF I, 397-98.

The defeat of ABDACOM was, in a
sense, the inevitable outcome of Allied
weakness. There was no time to as-
semble in an area so remote from the
sources of supply sufficient aircraft to
contest Japanese domination of the air.
Although reinforcements adequate for
this task were allocated by the Com-
bined Chiefs of Staff, only a trickle,
barely enough to replace losses, reached
its destination. The warships that might
have challenged the invaders were en-
gaged in other tasks, and when they were
finally organized into a combined strik-
ing force it was already too late. In the
six weeks of its existence ABDACOM
never had a chance to test the validity
of General Marshall's contention that a
unified command would "solve nine-
tenths of our troubles." But important
lessons about Allied command could be
learned from the disagreements and dif-
ferences which marked the brief exist-
ence of ABDACOM and these were not
lost when the time came to establish
other commands later in the war.

While the campaign for Java was in
progress, the Japanese had pushed on
to take northern Sumatra and central
Burma, .thus consolidating their control
of the southern area and cutting China
off from its Allies. From Singapore, ten
days after that fortress had fallen, came
the troops to take northern Sumatra.
With their arrival the defenders of the
island fled to Java in time to join the
fight there, and eventually to surrender.
Burma was to have been seized in two
phases and its occupation completed
only after operations to the south were
over. But early in January the schedule
had been speeded up and before the end
of the month the 15th Army had pushed
across the Thai-Burma border and seized

180

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Moulmein. On 8 March, after the battle
of Sittang Bridge where the Japanese
destroyed two Indian brigades, they cap-
tured Rangoon, southern terminus of
the supply line to China and the port of
entry for lend-lease supplies. Pushing on
to the north, they had by mid-March
reached the Toungoo-Prome line in cen-
tral Burma, and though they did not
finally gain victory there until early in
May they had effectively blockaded
China by the time the Indies had

fallen. 5S By the end of March, the vast
area of sea and land from New Guinea
and northwest Australia to central Bur-
ma, which had formed ABDACOM,
was under Japanese control. Only to
the north, in the Philippines, where
American and Filipino troops still stood
fast, had the Japanese failed to meet
their timetable of conquest.

"For an account of the campaign in Burma, see
Romanus and Sunderland, Stilwell's Mission to
China, chs. Ill and IV.

CHAPTER VIII

The Philippines

Posterity, thinned by the crimes of the ancestors, shall hear of those battles.

Horace

In the period when the Japanese were
overrunning Malaya and the Indies their
campaign in the Philippines progressed
slowly. Their initial success had been
spectacular. First they had knocked out
the Far East Air Force, established air
and naval supremacy in the Philippines,
and seized advance airfields on Luzon.
Then, on 22 December, General Homma
put the bulk of his 14th Army ashore at
Lingayen Gulf, north of Manila. The
remainder landed two days later at La-
mon Bay, south of the capital, to form
the southern arm of a giant pincer move-
ment converging on Manila. But Hom-
ma quickly discovered he was dealing
with a determined and able foe. Mac-
Arthur did not, as Homma and Imperial
General Headquarters expected, stay to
fight it out on the central plain of Lu-
zon. Instead he put into effect the long-
standing Orange plan and withdrew his
forces to the Bataan Peninsula in a skill-
ful and dangerous double retrograde
movement, made in two weeks under the
most difficult circumstances and constant
pressure. At the same time he pro-
claimed Manila an open city and trans-
ferred his headquarters to Corregidor.
Thus, when Homma, on 2 January,
reached his objective, the capital city,
he was able to take it without opposi-

tion. But his victory was a hollow one.
The enemy army was still intact and in
control of the entrance to Manila Bay.
So long as it maintained its hold on
Bataan and Corregidor Homma would
be unable to use the great port of Manila
or to claim victory in the Philippines.

South of Luzon, the Japanese had
made only one important conquest in
the Philippines when they occupied the
harbor of Davao in Mindanao, as a base
for the invasion of Borneo. But the
American and Philippine forces on that
island were undefeated. Well-organized
and led, they still held the airfield at
Del Monte. In the central Philippines
the Japanese had as yet made no land-
ings. There the scattered garrisons on
Panay, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, and other
islands, strengthened their defenses and
made plans for the day when the enemy
would appear off their shores.

The Siege of Bataan

In the Japanese scheme of conquest,
the Philippines occupied only a second-
ary place and Imperial General Head-
quarters had not been generous with
General Homma. All it had given him
to take the islands, a job that was sched-
uled to be completed in fifty days, were

182

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

two divisions, the 16th and 48th, two
tank regiments, an air group, and service
and supporting troops. One other unit,
the 65th Brigade, consisting of three
2-battalion regiments, was to come in
later to mop up and garrison the islands.
But Homma was not allowed to keep
even this force, for Imperial General
Headquarters, having decided late in
December to speed up operations in the
southern area, took from him his best
unit, the 48th Division, as well as the
air group. Word of this decision reached
Homma via Southern Army headquar-
ters on 2 January, the day he occupied
Manila.

Fortunately for the Japanese cause,
Homma, for reasons entirely unrelated
to the decision of Imperial General
Headquarters, had already ordered the
65th Brigade to the Philippines, three
weeks earlier than intended. The bri-
gade, which in the opinion of its com-
mander was "absolutely unfit for combat
duty," reached Luzon on New Year's
Day, just in time to replace the 48th
Division in the coming battle for Bataan. 1

Despite this weakening of his forces,
Homma felt certain of an early victory.
On the basis of faulty intelligence he
concluded that resistance would be
weak, and that the American and Fili-
pino troops would make their stand
around Mariveles, near the tip of the
peninsula, then withdraw to Corregidor.
Japanese operations on Bataan would
therefore take the form of a pursuit

1 6$th Brig Opns Rpt, Mt. Natib, p. 3; 14th Army
Opns, Japanese Studies in World War II, 1, I, 39,
60-62, 73—76. Most of the material covered in this
chapter is treated at g reater length in M orton, The
Fall of the Philippines \ chs. X V-XXII.lFor the con-
venience of the researcher, footnote references are to
the original sources rather than to the author's
earlier volume.

rather than an assault against a strongly
fortified position. Such operations,
Homma felt, could be safely entrusted
to the inexperienced and untrained 65th
Brigade, reinforced with seasoned troops
of the 16th Division and aided by sup-
porting artillery and armor.

General Homma's optimism was en-
tirely unfounded. Arrayed against him
on a line extending across the northern
part of the jungled mountain fastness
of Bataan were two corps, one led by
Maj. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright
and the other by Maj. Gen. George M.
Parker, Jr. In Wainwright's corps on
the left (west) were three of the recently-
inducted Philippine Army divisions, the
26th Cavalry of Philippine Scouts (Fili-
pino citizens forming part of the Regu-
lar Army of the United States) , and
other troops, for a total of 22,500 men.
On the right (Manila Bay side) of the
peninsula, in Parker's corps, were four
more Philippine Army divisions, a Phil-
ippine Scout regiment, plus supporting
troops, all together 25,000 men. To the
rear were the regular U.S. Army Philip-
pine Division (composed largely of Phil-
ippine Scouts) , two battalions of light
tanks, a 75-mm. SPM group, together
with corps and USAFFE artillery. The
southern tip of the peninsula, designated
the Service Command Area, was de-
fended by a heterogeneous force com-
posed of constabulary, Philippine Army
troops, grounded airmen, bluejackets,
and marines. 2 Control of the two corps
and of the elements to the rear was
retained by General MacArthur's head-
quarters on Corregidor, with an ad-
vance echelon on Bataan.

Despite this considerable force, num-

2 USAFFE Field Orders 1 and 2, 6 and 7, Jan 42 and
GO 3, 7 Jan 42, copies in OCMH.

THE PHILIPPINES

183

General Homma Comes Ashore

bering about 90,000 men, the American
position was not a strong one. There
had been little time to build fortifica-
tions; communications were inadequate,
and many of the troops were untrained
and poorly equipped. Food was scarce
and there was a shortage of supplies of
all types. Moreover, the main battle
position was not a continuous line. Sep-
arating the two corps was the 4,222-foot-
high Mt. Natib which made physical
contact and mutual support virtually
impossible.

The Japanese opened the battle for
Bataan on g January with an artillery
barrage that "shook the northern por-
tion" of the peninsula, after which the
infantry moved out to the attack. The

main force, which attacked first, was
repulsed in a series of bloody battles
and was finally forced to shift to the
west in search of an opening in the
American lines, while another column
sought to turn Parker's left flank on
the slopes of Mt. Natib. Finally, on
the 15 th, the Japanese found an opening
and drove through. By the evening of
the 16th they were in position to out-
flank the corps. Hastily a counterattack
was organized with troops from the Phil-
ippine Division, but to no avail. 3

Meanwhile the Japanese on the other
side of the peninsula, traversing the
jungled height near the center, had cut

3 6;th Brig Opns Rpt, Mt. Natib, apps. $ and 20,

p. 15.

184

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

behind Wainwright's line on 21 January
and established a block along the only
road in the area. Unable to reduce the
block, the troops in Wainwright's corps
withdrew, pulling back along the coast.
At about the same time, 24 January,
MacArthur ordered a general with-
drawal to the reserve battle position.

The first battle was over but Homma
was still far from victory. He had won
this round but at such heavy cost that
the 65th Brigade, in the words of its
commander, had "reached the extreme
stages of exhaustion." 4 The American
and Filipino forces had disengaged suc-
cessfully and occupied their new line
across the waist of the peninsula on 26
January. They had saved Bataan for
another day. But there was no further
retreat from this line. "With its occu-
pation," MacArthur wrote, "all maneu-
vering possibilities will cease. I intend
to fight it out to complete destruction." 5

During the next two weeks Homma
committed the remainder of the 16th
Division and, by a series of frontal at-
tacks combined with amphibious as-
saults behind the enemy line, sought to
gain the victory which had thus far
eluded him. Again he failed, this time
with such heavy casualties that he had
to break off the fight and call on Impe-
rial General Headquarters for reinforce-
ments. From 6 January to 1 March,
14th Army had suffered almost 7,000
casualties, 2,700 killed and over 4,000
wounded. Between 10,000 and 12,000
more men were down with malaria, beri-
beri, and dysentery. So depleted was
the 14th Army that the American and
Filipino troops, had they chosen that

, 6;th Brig Opns Rpt, Mt. Natib, pp. 33, 38.
'Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 108, 23 Jan 42,
AG 381 (11-27-^1 sec. 1) Far East.

moment to attack, could, in Homma's
words, have walked to Manila "without
encountering much resistance on our
part." 6

But by this time MacArthur's troops
were showing the alarming effects of
reduced rations, lack of quinine, and
continuous combat. Almost the first
official action on Bataan had been an
order cutting the ration in half. This
meant the Americans would theoreti-
cally receive 36 ounces of food a day,
the Filipinos 32. 7 Actually they never
received even that amount. The ration
varied from day to day and was based
solely on the amount of food on hand.
From an average of about 30 ounces a
day it decreased steadily until it was
barely enough to sustain life. Not only
was the diet inadequate, but it was un-
balanced as well, deficient in vitamins
and lacking the minor luxuries which
might have compensated for its bareness
and monotony. There was no butter,
coffee, tea, jam, fresh milk, or vegetables,
and precious little sugar, fruit, and to-
bacco. Deprived of the solace of ciga-
rettes and coffee, the soldier living on
little more than 20 ounces of food a day
could be very miserable indeed. 8

The consequences of the inadequate
and unbalanced ration and other short-
ages soon became evident in the high
incidence of malnutrition and vitamin
deficiency diseases and a marked de-
crease in combat efficiency. Signs of

'United States of America vs. Masaharu Homma,
pp. 3062-63, testimony of Homma; pp. 2450, 2457,
2576, testimony of Lt. Gen. Takaji Wachi and Col.
Yoshio Nakajima, National Archives; 14th Army
Opns, Japanese Studies in World War II, 1, 1, 1 16.

'Rad, MacArthur to CG Bataan Service Comd, 5
Jan 42, AG 430 (25 Dec 41); Inventory of Rations,
3 Jan 42, AG 430.2 (3 Jan 42) both in Phil Reds.

"See Rpts of the QM Phil Dept in AG 319.1 (29
Jan 42) Phil Reds.

THE PHILIPPINES

185

serious muscle waste and depletion of
fat reserve were plain in the thin bodies
and hollow cheeks of the hungry men.
Night blindness, swelling, diarrhea, and
dysentery became common, and beriberi
in its incipient stages was almost univer-
sal among the troops. The men had
lost the capacity to resist even the most
minor ailment, and any disease, warned
the Bataan surgeon, would assume
epidemic proportions.

These fears were soon justified in the
rapid spread of malaria. For a time the
disease had been kept under control by
prophylactic doses of quinine, but the
supply was limited and its use, except
for those already infected, was discon-
tinued at the end of February. Within
a week the number of daily malaria ad-
missions to the hospitals jumped to 500
and a month later was approaching the
fantastic figure of 1,000. Despite every
expedient it proved impossible to obtain
a large enough supply of quinine to
bring the disease under control or per-
mit its use as a prophylaxis. 9 By the end
of March the two general hospitals, de-
signed to accommodate 1,000 patients
each, had about 8,500 patients, and
another 4,000 were being treated in a
provisional hospital. Undetermined
numbers were hospitalized in their
units, and all medical installations on
Bataan were bursting with patients. 10

The effects of disease and starvation
upon combat efficiency were disastrous.
A month after they reached Bataan, the
men were only about 75 percent effec-
tive; six weeks later this figure dropped

* Material on the prevalence of disease can be found
in AG 440 (26 Jan 4a) and AG 710 (24 Mar 42) Phil
Reds; Col Wibb E. Cooper, Med Dept Activities in
the Phil, ann. XIV of USAFFE-USFIP Rpt of Opns,
copy in OCMH.

10 Cooper, Med Dept Activities, pp. 32—33, 55, 57-61.

to 25 percent. The condition of the
troops, wrote an inspecting officer, "was
utter nightmare." In one regiment the
men "were just able to fire a rifle out
of the trench, and no more." n

The one great hope that fortified the
men on Bataan and Corregidor was their
belief that somehow large reinforce-
ments and shiploads of food and sup-
plies would break through the Japanese
blockade and come to their rescue. This
belief was based partly on the desperate
desire to believe it and partly on Mac-
Arthur's promise in January that "thou-
sands of troops and hundreds of planes"
were on the way. 12 President Quezon
and High Commissioner Sayre had given
the same promise in public statements
earlier, based on Roosevelt's broadcast
of 29 December, which the New York
Times headlined with, "All aid prom-
ised. President pledges protection."
Sustaining the faith of the troops on
Bataan also was the conviction that their
country would never abandon them to
the enemy and that somehow they would
be rescued. 13 These hopes were badly
shaken when President Roosevelt, in his
February 23d Fireside Chat, placed the
Philippines in their proper perspective
"in the big picture of the war." His
listeners on Bataan could find no hope
for relief in the President's remarks
about the nature of global warfare, the
tremendous tasks facing the American
people, and the volume of production.
What they needed was food, clothing,
and medicine, and they needed them im-

11 Col Harry A. Skerry, Comments on Engineer Hist,
No. 18; Col Ray M. O'Day, Hist of 21st Div (PA),
II, 39, both in OCMH.

"Ltr Order, USAFFE to All Unit Comdrs, 15 Jan
43, sub: Msg from Gen MacArthur, copy in OCMH.

la Ltr, MacArthur to Hoover, si Jul 59, OCMH.
New York Times, December 21, 1941.

186

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

mediately. "Plain for all to see," wrote
one officer, "was the handwriting on the
wall, at the end of which the President
had placed a large and emphatic period.
The President had — with regret — wiped
us off the page and closed the book." 14

Strategy and Logistics

If the troops on Bataan thought — mis-
takenly — they had been abandoned, they
could be sure that they had in General
MacArthur an eloquent and powerful
champion to plead their cause in the
councils of war. Constantly and per-
sistently, in the strongest terms, he urged
the President and Chief of Staff on to
bolder measures and stronger efforts for
the relief of the Philippine garrison.
The support of the Philippine Islands,
he asserted time and again, was the most
important objective of the Allied cause
in the Far East and no effort should be
spared to achieve this end. The arrange-
ments and plans made for the defense
of the Malay Barrier and the establish-
ment of a base in Australia, while con-
tributing to this cause, did not, Mac-
Arthur held, materially affect his own
situation.

What MacArthur wanted was a major
Allied effort in the Southwest Pacific
that would have as its objective the relief
of the Philippines. This effort, he be-
lieved, should take the form of an ad-
vance, by air and naval forces, from
Australia through the Netherlands
Indies and Borneo to Mindanao. Once
air and naval supremacy had been estab-
lished, an Army corps could be landed
on Mindanao, and from there, project-
ing air and naval forces northward,

"Col Richard C. Mallonee, Bataan Diary, II, 69,
copy in OCMH.

reinforcements could be brought into
Luzon and the enemy driven from the
Philippines. "Enemy appears to have
tendency to become overconfident," he
wrote, "and time is ripe for brilliant
thrust with air carriers." 15

So important were these operations,
in MacArthur's view, so vital were they
to the Allied position in the Far East
and the defense of Allied territory that
he did not hesitate to urge that the re-
sources of Great Britain, as well as those
of the United States, be placed at his
disposal. After all, he pointed out, the
British Empire would benefit most from
these operations. Singapore, Australia,
and India would be saved and the Brit-
ish line of communications in the Far
East made secure. England itself would
be free from attack during the winter
months and could safely release forces
and lend material aid to a cause which
was so greatly to its benefit. 16

But this effort, if it was to be under-
taken, must be made soon, MacArthur
warned Marshall. Already his food sup-
ply was low and his munitions, especially
in antiaircraft ammunition, limited. The
Corregidor garrison, whose existence
depended on its vulnerable water and
power supply, could not hold out indefi-
nitely. Unsupported, he told the Chief
of Staff on 1 January, he would be able
to resist serious attack at most for three
months. Pending the arrival of the ex-
peditionary force it would be necessary
therefore to restore his line of commu-
nication to the United States "by aggres-
sive air and naval action," a course he

16 Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 20, 7 Jan 42,
AG 381 (11-27-41 Gen) Far East. See also his mes-
sages of 27 December and 1 January to the Chiefs of
Staff, in same file and in WPD 4639-2.

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, Nos. 2 and 3, 1 Jan
42, WPD 4639-2.

THE PHILIPPINES

187

had urged before and continued to

urge

Mac Arthur's pleas for a major Allied
effort in the Southwest Pacific reached
Washington at a time when the Arcadia
Conference was in session and while
the U.S. and British Chiefs of Staff were
themselves considering how best to halt
the Japanese advance. But the sympa-
thetic response to his messages and the
assurance that "the President and Prime
Minister, Colonel Stimson and Colonel
Knox, the British Chiefs of Staff and our
corresponding officials" were doing
everything possible to strengthen Allied
forces in the Far East could not disguise
the fact that Washington and London
did not attach the same importance to
the defense of the Philippines as Mac-
Arthur did. "Our great hope," General
Marshall told him, "is that the rapid
development of an overwhelming air
power on the Malay Barrier will cut the
Japanese communications south of Bor-
neo and permit an assault on the
southern Philippines." 18

The emphasis in such a strategy, as
MacArthur well knew, was not on the
drive northward but on holding the
Malay Barrier and its east and west an-
chors, Burma and Australia. The sup-
port of the Philippine garrison and the
re-establishment of the line of communi-
cations to Luzon, though included as
one of the objectives of Allied strategy,
clearly came after these. MacArthur
agreed that the Japanese drive south-
ward must be halted, but believed that
this objective could best be accomplished
by holding the Philippines. To him the

islands were "the locus of victory or
defeat," and if they fell so would the
Malay Barrier and the entire Asiatic
continent. This view the Washington
planners, whose perspective encom-
passed a war on many fronts, never
accepted.

What MacArthur did not know was
that the Army planners in Washington
had on the 3d of January submitted a
study proving that the Philippines could
not be reinforced and that his plan for
an offensive northward from Australia
to Mindanao would constitute "an en-
tirely unjustifiable diversion of forces
from the principal theater — the Atlan-
tic." It would require, they noted, about
1,500 aircraft of various types, at least
half of which would have to come from
other areas, service and construction
units to build airfields along the line of
advance, a large logistical organization,
and the transfer from the Atlantic and
Mediterranean of 7-9 capital ships, 5-7
carriers, about 50 destroyers, 60 subma-
rines, and the necessary auxiliaries. The
greatest effort that could be justified in
terms of global strategy, the planners
stated, was to hold the Malay Barrier
while projecting operations as far north
as possible. Since this view was essen-
tially that already accepted by the Com-
bined Chiefs, the effect of the Army
planners' study was to confirm the deci-
sion already made when ABDACOM
was established. 19

The conclusions of the Army plan-
ners, however valid they were, did not
affect the determination of the Presi-
dent, Mr. Stimson, or General Marshall

"Ibid.; Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 20, 7 Jan
42, AG 381 (11-27—41 Gen) Far East.

,a Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 2 Jan 42, WPD
4<>S9-2-

'"Memo, Gerow for CofS, 3 Jan 42, sub: Relief of
Phil, WPD 4639—3. There is no record of formal ap-
proval of this study. Both Stimson and Marshall
noted it, but made no comment.

188

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

to send MacArthur all possible aid. That
program was already under way and
everything possible was being done in
Washington to ensure its success. Thus,
when MacArthur on the 4th, the day
after the planners had submitted their
study, suggested, first, that a plan for
blockade running be developed and put
into effect immediately; and second, in
a tart reference to the Navy, that "some
relief be obtained on use of submarine
transportation," Marshall took what ac-
tion he could. Already the funds to
initiate blockade running had been allo-
cated, but the program would have to
await further arrangements in Australia.
Meanwhile he asked Admiral Hart to
send MacArthur by submarine the anti-
aircraft ammunition he needed so badly.
The response was discouraging. Hart
replied that he could not spare any of
his submarines for such a mission and it
was not until the end of the month,
after Marshall had enlisted the aid of
Admiral King, that the submarine was
dispatched. There was nothing Mac-
Arthur could do, for Hart's fleet was not
under his control, but he did not hesi-
tate to express his feelings. "I urge,"
he wrote Marshall, "steps be taken to
obtain a more aggressive and resourceful
handling of naval forces in this area." 20
In this view he would soon have the
support of the Dutch.

But assurances and messages from
Washington did not get supplies to the
Philippines. That task was the responsi-
bility of commanders in Australia and
the Netherlands Indies, who, beset with

problems of their own, had not the same
sense of urgency as impelled MacArthur
to insist that failure to reach him with
supplies would have "monumental" and
"disastrous" results. This sense of ur-
gency Marshall undertook to impart to
these officers after MacArthur had given
his "professional" assurance that the
blockade could easily be pierced. To
Brereton and Brett he dispatched simi-
lar messages on 17 January calling for
"comprehensive efforts" to run the block-
ade. "To insure utmost energy" in carry-
ing out these efforts, Marshall made ten
million dollars of the Chief of Staff's
funds available to Brereton and prom-
ised more if needed to induce ship's
masters and their crews to undertake
the hazardous journey. "Risks will be
great," he wrote. "Rewards must be
proportional." At the same time he
made another million available to Mac-
Arthur and sent Col. Patrick J. Hurley,
former Secretary of War and an old
friend of the Philippine commander, to
Australia immediately to lend his "ener-
getic support" to the blockade-running
program. "Only indomitable determi-
nation and pertinacity will succeed,"
wrote Marshall, "and success must be
ours." 21

Under the impetus of Marshall's ur-
gent instructions for a comprehensive
program and the use of "bold and re-
sourceful men," General Brereton began
to draw up elaborate and ambitious
plans. But there was no time for such
plans and when Marshall learned of
them he quickly registered his disappro-

"Rads. MacArthur to Marshall, No. 9, 4 Jan 4s;
AG 381 (1 1-27-41 Sec. 1) Far East; Marshall to Brett,
No. 671, 5 Jan 42; COMINCH to CINCAF, same date;
MacArthur to Marshall, No. s6; COMINCH to
CINCAF; Brett to Marshall, No. 485, all dated 9 Jan
4a and in WPD Msg File.

"Rads, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 72, 17 Jan 42;
Marshall to CG USAFIA, same date, both in AG 381
(11-87-41 sec. 1) Far East; Marshall to Brett, ABDA
No. a6, same date, WPD 4560-9; Marshall to Mac-
Arthur, No. 949, same date, OCS 18136-196.

THE PHILIPPINES

189

val. Action and results were needed," he
wrote, not plans. 22

Thus urged, the commanders in Aus-
tralia concentrated on getting ships and
supplies, but it was a long, hard job,
beset with many obstacles, including the
reluctance of the Dutch and British to
risk the loss of precious shipping. By 2
February, despite the high rewards and
frantic efforts, only five vessels had been
enlisted in the cause. One was already
en route to Corregidor with 700 tons of
rations and ammunition; the other four
were loading in Brisbane and were
scheduled to leave in the near future.
All but one would sail directly for the
Philippines. The Mormacsun, under or-
ders from Washington not to go further
north than the Netherlands Indies, would
transfer its cargo at a Dutch port to
smaller vessels for the last leg of the
journey. 23

These efforts were satisfactory as far
as they went but they did not add up to
the aggressive strategy MacArthur felt
should be followed in the Far East.
Early in February he again presented his
views on this subject in a message to the
Chief of Staff with the hope that they
would be shown "to the highest author-
ity." The message opened with the
startling statement that the present stra-
tegy, aimed at building up forces before
the Japanese advance, was "a fatal mis-
take on the part of the Democratic
Allies." The plan to build a base and
acquire air supremacy in the Southwest
Pacific, he predicted, would fail and, as

a result, the war would be indefinitely
prolonged. The only way to defeat the
enemy was to seek combat with him.
"Counsels of timidity based upon theo-
ries of safety first," he warned, "will not
win against such an aggressive and auda-
cious adversary as Japan." "What the
Allies ought to do," he asserted, was
attack the Japanese line of communi-
cations "stretched over 2,000 miles of
sea." The argument that naval forces
for such an attack were not available he
brushed aside with the observation that
a great naval victory was not necessary;
"the threat alone would go far toward
the desired end." 24

General Marshall's reply, though sym-
pathetic, made it perfectly clear that the
Allies were doing all they could in the
Pacific. No one denied the advantages
of an attack against Japan's line of com-
munication, he pointed out, but neither
the naval forces nor the bases for such
an attack were available. Moreover,
MacArthur's proposal did not take into
consideration the need to keep open the
Allied line of communication. The
course the Allies had adopted, he ex-
plained, was all that could be done with
existing forces. Until additional forces
could be accumulated the Allies had
little choice but to "limit the hostile
advance so as to deny him [the enemy]
free access to land and sea areas that will
immeasurably strengthen his war-mak-
ing powers or will be valuable to us
as jump off positions when we can start
a general offensive." 25

M Rads, Brereton to TAG, 19 Jan 42; Marshall to
Brereton, same date, both in AG 381 (11—27-41 sec.
1) Far East.

"Rad, Brereton to Marshall, No. 88, 22 Jan 4a;
Barnes to TAG, No. 154, 2 Feb 42, both in AG 381
fi 1-27-41 sec 2A) Far East.

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 201, 4 Feb 42,
WDCSA 381 (2—17^2) Phil. This message, as well as
many others from MacArthur, was forwarded to the
President.

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 8 Feb 42, WDCSA
381 (2-17^2) Phil.

190

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

On the same day that the Chief of
Staff dispatched his reply to MacArthur,
President Quezon, who had moved the
seat of the Commonwealth Government
to Corregidor, offered a plan to bring
hostilities in the Philippines to a close.
This plan was based on the assumption
that the Japanese were in the Philippines
only because the United States was there.
If the United States Government would
grant the Philippines their indepen-
dence immediately and withdraw its
forces, Quezon explained to President
Roosevelt, then he would seek to per-
suade Japan to do the same. If Japan
agreed, as he thought it would, then he
would disband the Philippine Army and
leave his country without fortifications
of any kind. The major powers could
then neutralize the Philippines and save
it from the ravages of a war in which it
had no real interest.

Quezon's disquieting proposal, which
the American High Commissioner sup-
ported, was accompanied by an estimate
from General MacArthur painting a
dark picture of the military situation in
the Philippines. "So far as the military
angle is concerned," MacArthur wrote,
"the problem presents itself as to
whether the plan of President Quezon
might offer the best possible solution of
what is about to be a disastrous debacle."
He did not believe it would affect the
ultimate fate of the Philippines; that,
he thought, would be decided by the
outcome of the war in other theaters.
"If the Japanese Government rejects
President Quezon's proposition," he told
Marshall, "it would psychologically
strengthen our hold because of their
Prime Minister's public statement offer-
ing independence. If it accepts it, we
lose no military advantage because we

would still secure at least equal delay." 2e
The reaction from Washington to
Quezon's proposal was prompt and em-
phatic. President Roosevelt repudiated
the scheme outright and declared, in a
personal message to Quezon, that the
American Government would never
agree to such a solution to the war in
the Philippines. But he softened the
blow by pledging that "so long as the
flag of the United States flies on Filipino
Soil ... it would be defended by our
own men to the death." To MacArthur
the President sent strict instructions to
continue the fight without surrender of
American troops "so long as there re-
mains any possibility of resistance." 27
There was no misunderstanding the
meaning and tone of this message.

Both Quezon and MacArthur ac-
cepted the President's decision without
question. Quezon wrote that he fully
appreciated the President's position and
would abide by the decision. Mac-
Arthur, in his reply, explained that his
message had been misunderstood, that
he never had any intention of surrender-
ing and would fight "to destruction" on
Bataan and Corregidor. 28

This matter was hardly settled when
events in the Pacific, gloomy at best,
took a turn for the worse. Already the
Japanese had taken Malaya, Borneo, and
the Celebes, and on 15 February Singa-
pore fell. Its loss provided MacArthur
with the occasion for still another plea

OT Rads, Ft, Mills to Marshall, Nos. 226 and 227, 8
Feb 42, CofS Phil Sit File. The first part of the mes-
sage is addressed to Roosevelt and signed Quezon;
the second to Marshall signed MacArthur. Ltr, Mac-
Arthur to Hoover, 21 Jul 59, OCMH.

"Rad, Roosevelt to MacArthur for Quezon, No.
1029, 9 Feb 42, CofS Phil Sit File.

ffl Rads, MacArthur to Roosevelt, No. 252, 11 Feb
42; Quezon to Roosevelt, No. 262, 12 Feb 42, both in
OPD Exec Files.

THE PHILIPPINES

191

for an attack against the Japanese line
of communications. "The opportuni-
ties still exist for a complete reversal of
the situation," he declared with charac-
teristic optimism. "It will soon, how-
ever, be too late for such a movement." ^

To the planners in Washington and
the officers of USAFIA and ABDACOM,
the loss of Singapore and the rapid Japa-
nese advance into the Netherlands Indies
was hardly the occasion for attack. To
them it forecast the invasion of Sumatra
and Java and an end to blockade-run-
ning. Pat Hurley, who had arrived in
Australia on 8 February, reported from
Java on the 17th that "movements are
progressing as expeditiously as can be
expected under existing condition." But
he also warned that the sea routes north
of Australia were becoming increasingly
hazardous. A few days later he told the
Chief of Staff that there were "almost
insuperable difficulties" in getting
supplies to MacArthur. 30

The former Secretary of War did not
exaggerate. Despite the elaborate prep-
arations and large funds, the five vessels
reported on 2 February were all that
ever joined the blockade-running pro-
gram. Of these only three, the Coast
Farmer, Dona Nati, and Anhui, got
through. The first, a 3,000-ton Army
freighter with a speed of 10 knots, left
Australia on 4 February and put in at a
Mindanao port fifteen days later. The
other two left later and arrived at Cebu
in mid-March. All together, they
brought in more than 10,000 tons of
rations, 4,000 rounds of small arms am-

munition, 8,000 rounds of 81-mm. am-
munition, and miscellaneous medical,
signal, and engineer supplies. 31

But the delivery of these supplies left
them far from the battlefield of Bataan.
From Mindanao and Cebu they still had
to be transported northward through
the inland seas to Manila Bay. For this
leg of the journey, fast interisland motor
ships with a capacity of 300 to 1,000
tons were used. Cebu was the headquar-
ters for these vessels and from there
thousands of tons went northward. The
Legaspi was the first to make the jour-
ney safely, arriving at Corregidor on 22
January with a cargo of rice and other
food. Two other vessels, the Princessa
and Elcano, performed the same feat in
February, the latter carrying rations un-
loaded from the Coast Farmer. Three
other vessels carrying the remainder of
that ship's cargo were sunk as were
others carrying the supplies brought in
by the Dona Nati and Anhui. Of the
10,000 tons of rations that had reached
the Philippines, only about 1,000 tons —
a 4-day supply for the 100,000 soldiers
and civilians on Bataan — ever reached
Manila Bay. 32

Before the end of February it was
already evident that the blockade-run-
ning program from Australia was a fail-
ure, but it was not until the Japanese
landed in Java that the officers in charge
of the program admitted their inability
to supply the Philippines. This admis-
sion came to General Marshall in a joint
message from Brett and Hurley recom-

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 297, 16 Feb 42,
WDCSA 381 (2-17-42) Phil.

""Rads, Hurley to Marshall, ABDACOM No. 2, 17
Feb 42, AG 381 (11-27—41 sec. 2B) Far East; 21 Feb
42, OPD 381 SWPA, sec. 1 case 21.

"Maj Gen Julian F. Barnes, Rpt of Orgn of
USAFIA; Maj Richard M. Leighton and Elizabeth
Bingham. Development of U.S. Supply Base in Aus-
tralia, both in OCMH.

"Rpt of QM Opns in Phil Campaign, ann. of
USAFFE-USFIP Rpt of Opns, pp. 29-40, 69-70, and
app. A, Rpt of Opns, Cebu Depot, OCMH.

192

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

mending that the program be aban-
doned and that the Philippines be sup-
plied directly from the United States via
Hawaii "through open sea areas in
which the chance of reaching destina-
tion is much greater than through nar-
row channels between island and block-
ade areas of the Southwest Pacific." 33
The Brett-Hurley proposal was a
sound one; it had already been made by
Mac Arthur who, on 22 February had
expressed strong dissatisfaction with the
efforts being made in Australia. The
program, he had asserted, should be con-
trolled from Washington and other
routes, including that across the central
Pacific from Hawaii, be utilized. "If it
is left as a subsidiary effort," he told
Marshall, "it will never be accom-
plished." 34 Immediately the supply ex-
perts in the War Department, on the
basis of the President's request, made a
quick survey of the problem. Their
conclusion was that direct supply of the
Philippines from the United States by
way of Hawaii was "practical and desir-
able." Six World War I destroyers, they
pointed out, could be converted to cargo
vessels for this purpose. The plan was
quickly approved. 35

M Rad, Hurley and Brett for Marshall, 483, 4 Mar
42, AG 381 (11—87^1 sec. 3) Far East.

* 4 Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, 344, aa Feb 4a,
WPD Ready Ref File, Phil.

"Memos, Somervell for Marshall, aa Feb 4a, sub:
Supply of U.S. Forces in Phil, OCS 18136-258; Mar-
shall for Roosevelt, a4 Feb 42, no sub, WPD 4560-36,
Marshall for Roosevelt, 28 Feb 42; sub: Blockade
Runners, OCS 18136-268. Vice Adm. Bernhard H.
Bieri (ret.), then one of the naval planners, recalled
later that he never heard of this plan to use World
War I destroyers and doubted that it had been sub-
mitted to the Navy. Anyone familiar with the steam-
ing characteristics of these 1 ,000-ton destroyers and
with the distances in the Pacific, he wrote, "would
have crossed it out as a practical operation." Ltr,
Bieri to Hoover, 17 Jul 59, OCMH.

The schedule established under the
new program called for six sailings, the
first vessel to leave New Orleans on 28
February, the last on 22 March. But
there were delays in assembling the car-
goes, selecting the route, and finding
gun crews, and it was not until 2 March
that the first ship sailed. The others fol-
lowed later in the month, two sailing
from New Orleans through the Panama
Canal to Los Angeles and then Hono-
lulu, the others directly from the west
coast. But they had left too late and
none ever reached their destination. 36

Submarines and aircraft as well as
surface vessels were utilized in the des-
perate attempt to supply the beleaguered
garrison. The underwater craft could
carry rations and ammunition directly
to Corregidor but in such limited
amounts that the ten trips made netted
a total of only 53 tons of food (less than
one meal for the men on Bataan) , 3,500
rounds of badly needed 3-inch antiair-
craft ammunition, over 1,000,000 rounds
of .50 and .30-caliber ammunition, and
about 30,000 gallons of diesel oil for
the power plant on Corregidor. The
aircraft, with more limited space, were
used largely for medical supplies. They
succeeded in bringing their cargoes as far
as Del Monte in Mindanao, but most of
the quinine and morphine so critically
needed on Bataan remained there. 37

By mid-March the opportunity to
bring supplies to Bataan and Corregi-
dor had been lost. The Japanese were
in control of the air and sea routes and

"Messages dealing with these vessels can be found
in AG 384.3 GHQ SWPA and in the Hist Br, OCT,
SWPA, Phil Shipping.

"Rpt, CTF 51 to CINCSWPA, 15 May 4a, sub:
Submarine Relief Activities, ser. FF6-4, A 16-3, copy
in OCMH; Ltr, GHQ SWPA to CG US. Air Service,
14 May 4a, sub: Phil Relief Shipments, AG 384.3M.

THE PHILIPPINES

193

had blocked the passage between Min-
danao and the Visayas to Manila Bay.
The total effort and large sums ex-
pended by that time had produced neg-
ligible results in terms of tonnages
delivered to the troops. But it was an
effort that had to be made, no matter
how high the cost or slim the chance
of success. The American people owed
at least that much to the gallant
Philippine garrison.

Command

From the beginning there was little
doubt in Washington that the Philip-
pine garrison was doomed. After the
Japanese victory in Malaya and in the
Netherlands Indies, the outcome in the
Philippines was certain. It was only a
question of time and there were many
who thought the battle would be over
very soon. But if the garrison was
doomed, what would happen to General
MacArthur? Was he to be allowed to
fall into Japanese hands, lost forever to
the Allied cause? The answer was self-
evident. MacArthur's services were too
valuable to be sacrificed in a hopeless
cause and he must be rescued to lead
other forces in the war against Japan.

There were difficulties to this solu-
tion. A command commensurate with
his rank and seniority must be found for
him. The timing and circumstances of
his departure must be arranged with
great care to avoid the appearance of
abandoning the Filipinos to whom he
was the symbol of resistance. And Mac-
Arthur himself might show an under-
standable reluctance to leave his troops
in the midst of battle. If he was ordered
out, Colonel Hurley said, it would have
to be by the President and in such a way

that his reputation, "his honor and his
record as a soldier," would not be
compromised. 88

The first reference to this matter came
on 4 February when General Marshall,
undoubtedly at the direction of the
President, mentioned to MacArthur the
possibility of his transfer to another com-
mand should Bataan fall, leaving only
Corregidor in American hands. 39 "Under
these conditions," he told MacArthur,
"the need for your services there might
well be less pressing than at other points
in the Far East." There were, Marshall
explained, two possibilities. One was for
MacArthur to go to Mindanao to direct
guerrilla operations and to await the
supplies which would make a counter-
attack possible. The other was to go
directly to Australia and there resume
command of all U.S. Army forces in the
Far East. No decision had yet been made
on his future employment, Marshall
went on, and before one was he wanted
the confidential views of the Philippine
commander. "It is to be understood,"
he concluded, "that in case your with-
drawal from immediate leadership of
your beleaguered force is to be carried
out it will be by direct order of the
President to you." 40

Whatever MacArthur thought about
this proposal he kept his own counsel

"Memo, Hurley for Marshall, 21 Feb 4a, OPD 381
SWPA, sec. 1, case 21.

"Rear Adm. Charles A. Moore, one of the Navy
planners in February 1942, served on the panel that
reviewed the present manuscript before publication.
At that time, July 1959, he recalled that on several
occasions he had mentioned to Secretary of State
Cordell Hull the necessity for getting MacArthur out
of the Philippines, and that it was Hull who finally
went to the President with this suggestion. Notes of
Panel Meeting, 17 July 1959.

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 4 Feb 42, WDCSA
37°-5 (3-!7-4 2 ) ph il-

194

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

and carefully avoided the subject in the
days that followed. But he did say to
the President, a week later and in another
connection, that he and his family — his
wife and young son were still on Cor-
regidor with him — would "share the fate
of the garrison." 41 Marshall picked up
this statement and a few days later, in a
message dealing with the need for antiair-
craft ammunition, urged MacArthur to
send his family to safety for his next as-
signment might separate them "under
circumstances of greatly increased peril"
and "poignant embarrassment." Mac-
Arthur answered the inquiry about am-
munition but pointedly omitted any
reference to the personal aspects of
Marshall's message. 42

Nothing further was said about the
matter for another week, though it must
have been discussed more than once at
the White House where MacArthur's
worth was rated by one officer as the
equivalent of five Army corps. Finally,
on 21 February, when it was already
evident that ABDACOM was doomed
and that a new command would have to
be established in the Southwest Pacific,
MacArthur received word that the Presi-
dent had tentatively decided to order
him to Mindanao, but was not "suffi-
ciently informed as to the situation and
circumstances to be certain that the
proposal meets the actual situation." 43

The next day, without waiting for a
reply from Corregidor, the President
made his decision and ordered Mac-

41 Rad, MacArthur to Roosevelt, No. 252, 11 Feb 42,
OPD Exec Files.

■°Rads, Marshall to MacArthur, 14 Feb 42; Mac-
Arthur to Marshall, 15 Feb 42, both in WDCSA
370.05 (3-17-42) Phil.

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 21 Feh 42, WDCSA
370.05 (3—17-42) Phil; Eisenhower Personal Note-
book, entry of 23 Feb 42, copy in OCMH.

Arthur to leave for Australia as soon as
possible, stopping at Mindanao only long
enough "to insure a prolonged defense."
On his arrival in Australia he would
assume command of a new theater of
operations in the Southwest Pacific, ar-
rangements for which were then in
progress. So urgent was this new assign-
ment that he was to make ready imme-
diately and not to "delay in Mindanao"
longer than a week. Washington would
provide the transportation. 44

MacArthur's first reaction was to refuse
the assignment and remain with his men.
But after consultation with the senior
members of his staff, who pointed out
that he could do more for the Philippine
garrison in Australia than on Corregi-
dor, he decided to accept. 45 . He did not,
however, accept the injunction to leave
immediately. Pointing out that his
abrupt departure might have an adverse
effect on morale, he asked for permission
to delay his departure until, as he put it,
the "psychological time" presented it-
self. "Please be guided by me in this
matter," he urged the President. "I
know the situation here in the Philip-
pines and unless the right moment is
chosen for this delicate operation, a sud-
den collapse might occur." This permis-
sion was readily granted as was authority
to call on the Army and Navy command-
ers in Australia for the transportation
he would require. 46

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 1078, 22 Feb
42, OofS folder entitled MacArthur's Move to Aus-
tralia.

■"Frazier Hunt, MacArthur and the War Against
Japan (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1944),
p. 64. In this connection, see Jonathan M. Wain-
wright, General Wainwright's Story (New York:
Doubleday and Company, 1545), pp. 1-5.

"Rads, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 358. 24 Feb
42; Marshall to MacArthur, No. 1087, 25 Feb 42, both
in WDCSA 370.05 (3-17-42) Phil.

THE PHILIPPINES

195

The "psychological time" arrived in
the second week of March. It was then
that MacArthur judged the situation on
Bataan stable enough for him to leave
without risking "a sudden collapse."
Arrangements for transportation were
quickly made and the officers to accom-
pany him and his family carefully se-
lected. On the 1 ith all was ready and as
darkness settled over Manila Bay, Mac-
Arthur stepped into the first of the four
PT boats that would take him and the
rest of the group, all together twenty-one
persons, to Mindanao. 47

The trip to Mindanao took two nights.
On the first the group reached a small
uninhabited island in the central Philip-
pines (Cuyo Island) . The small craft
had broken formation during the night
and became separated, one of them
dumping its spare fuel when it mistook
another PT boat for an enemy vessel.
The next night the group continued
south in the three remaining vessels,
reaching Mindanao at daybreak. There
they were met by Maj. Gen. William F.
Sharp, commander of the Mindanao
Force, and driven to Del Monte airfield
to board the three B-17's which should
have been waiting there to take them to
Australia. But there was only one on
the airfield and MacArthur considered
that unfit for passengers. Incensed, he
dispatched two messages, one to General
Brett in Australia asking for other planes
immediately and the other to General
Marshall calling for "the best three planes
in the United States or Hawaii" with
veteran crews. "To attempt such a des-

perate and important trip with inade-
quate equipment," he wrote, "would
amount to consigning the whole party to
death and I could not accept such a
responsibility." 4S

Three B-17's were dispatched from
Australia immediately. Two of them
reached Del Monte on the night of the
16th, the other soon after. That night
the entire group took off and arrived at
Darwin at 0900 the next morning. From
there MacArthur proceeded to Mel-
bourne, where his arrival was greeted
with wild enthusiasm by the Australians.
He had made the hazardous journey,
"undoubtedly unique in military annals"
he told General Marshall, in safety, but
it would be more than two and a half
years before he would redeem his pledge
to return to the Philippines. 49

The departure of General MacArthur
had no immediate effect on operations in
the Philippines, but it resulted in a com-
plete change in the top command in the
islands. This change was not Mac-
Arthur's doing. He fully intended to
retain his control of the forces in the
Philippines as commander of USAFFE
from his new headquarters 4,000 miles
away. The headquarters itself as well as
its most important staff officers he took
to Australia with him. But he left be-
hind an advance echelon and it was
through this small staff headed by his
G-4, Col. Lewis C. Beebe, whom he des-
ignated deputy chief of staff of USAAFE
and recommended for promotion, that
he intended to exercise his control.
Beebe's main task would be to get sup-
plies for Corregidor and Bataan; the di-

"Rads, Marshall to MacArthur, 6 Mar 42, WDCSA
370.05 (2-17-42) Phil; Brett to Marshall, No. 760,
19 Mar 42, AG 371 (3—19-42); Rear Adm Francis W.
Rockwell, Rpt on Gen MacArthur's Evacuation,
Office CNO, Naval Hist Div.

w Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 482, 14 Mar 42,
WDCSA 370.05 (2-17-42) Phil.

*"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 5, 21 Mar 42,
OPD Exec Files.

196

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

General MacArthur With General
Hurley after arriving in Australia.

rection of operations would be handled
in MacArthur's own headquarters. 50

MacArthur realized full well the dis-
advantages of exercising command so far
from the battlefield. These he sought to
overcome by organizing his forces into
four major commands and giving to
each greater control over its operations.
For the troops on Bataan, and those still
holding out in the mountains of Luzon,
he established the Luzon Force and
named General Wainwright as its com-
mander. Wainwright's old job as I
Corps commander was given to Maj.

M Rpt of Harbor Defense of Manila Bay, ann. VIII
of USAFFE-USFIP Rpt of Opns, p. 42.

Gen. Albert M. Jones. Thus, for the
first time in the campaign the fighting
on Bataan came under a separate com-
mand, which was, in effect, an army
headquarters directing the operations of
two corps. Previously this direction had
been provided by USAFFE. 51

The task of holding Corregidor until
his return, MacArthur assigned to Maj.
Gen. George F. Moore, commander of
the Harbor Defense of Manila Bay. His
last instructions to Moore were to set
aside enough food to maintain 20,000
men on half-rations until 30 June 1942
in the expectation that if Bataan fell the
Philippine Division would be brought
to Corregidor to make a last stand there.
When he could hold out no longer,
MacArthur told him, he was to destroy
Corregidor's formidable armament so
that it could not be used against the
Americans when they returned. 52

The other two commands MacArthur
left behind included the remaining
forces in the Philippines. Previously
these forces had been organized into the
composite Visayan-Mindanao Force
under General Sharp. On 4 March,
MacArthur split this command and
created a separate Visayan Force under
Brig. Gen. Bradford C. Chynoweth.
Sharp remained in command of Min-
danao, the only island south of Luzon on
which a major Japanese force had
landed. 53 This move was probably de-
signed to permit General Sharp to
devote all his energies to the defense of
Mindanao, the base from which Mac-
Arthur still hoped to mount a counter-
offensive against the Japanese.

But careful as he had been in making

"Wainwright, General Wainwright's Story, p. 2.
52 Rpt of Harbor Defense, pp. 33, 42ft.
"USAFFE-USFIP Rpt of Opns, p. 51-,.

THE PHILIPPINES

197

these arrangements (to go into effect the
day after his departure) , and briefing
the force commanders and new deputy
chief of staff, MacArthur neglected one
thing — to inform the War Department.
Whatever the reasons, the result was
utter confusion. The War Department
assumed that Wainwright, the senior
officer in the islands, was in command of
all forces in the Philippines as Mac-
Arthur had been, and addressed him as
such. But the messages, intended for
Wainwright and marked for the com-
mander in the Philippines came to Beebe
who had no recourse but to refer them to
MacArthur, then en route to Australia.
Beebe's position was an embarrassing
one and he urged his chief repeatedly to
clear up the matter with Washington.
But to no avail. MacArthur remained
silent and the War Department
uninformed. 54

Events finally overwhelmed General
Beebe. On the 20th came messages from
the President and Chief of Staff, address-
ing Wainwright as commander in the
Philippines and telling him of his pro-
motion to lieutenant general. No con-
fusion was possible. "Upon the
departure of General MacArthur," wrote
Marshall, "you become commander of
U.S. forces in the Philippines." 58 Beebe
had no choice but to turn over the mes-
sages to Wainwright, who, next morning,
formally assumed command of U.S.
Forces in the Philippines (USFIP) , the
name of his new headquarters, and des-
ignated Beebe his chief of staff. Like

MacArthur, he commanded the naval
forces as well as those of the Army, and
was therefore a joint commander. 56

It was only when MacArthur learned
of Wainwright's assumption of command
on the 21st that he informed the War
Department of his own arrangements.
To Marshall these seemed unsatisfactory
for a variety of reasons, and he told the
President so. Wainwright, he felt, should
continue in command. The President
accepted this advice and MacArthur was
advised that unless he had strenuous
objections, Wainwright would retain his
new post. 57 MacArthur made no objec-
tions. He understood thoroughly Mar-
shall's difficulties; he said, and would
accommodate himself to the arrange-
ments already made. "Heartily in accord
with Wainwright's promotion to lieuten-
ant general," he radioed, "His assign-
ment to Philippine command is
appropriate." 58

Thus ended the uncertainty and con-
fusion. Wainwright was now confirmed
as the commander of all forces in the Phil-
ippine Islands with the large authority
and heavy responsibilities formerly pos-
sessed by General MacArthur. But he
was not independent of his former com-
mander, for MacArthur, though not yet
officially appointed to his new office, had
acquired even greater responsibilities
than before and command over an area
stretching from Melbourne to Manila.

M Rad, Marshal] to USAFIA, No. 740, 18 Mar 42,
OPD 381, Phil, sec i, case 13. The correspondence
between Beebe and MacArthur is filed in AG 311.23
(4 Feb 42) GHQ SWPA.

"Rads, Roosevelt to CG USAFFE, No. 1198; Mar-
shall to Wainwright, No. 1204, both dated 19 Mar
42, and No. 1203, 20 Mar 42, OPD Exec Files.

M MacArthur had acquired this control on 30 Jan-
uary 1942. Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 30 Jan 42,
WPD 325>-75-

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 3, 21 Mar 42,
AG 311.23 (4 Feb 42) GHQ SWPA; Memo, Marshall
for Pres, 22 Mar 42, sub: Comd in Phil; Rad, Mar-
shall to MacArthur, No. 810, 22 Mar 42, both in OPD
Exec Files.

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 19, 24 Mar 42,
AG 311.23 (4 Feb 42) GHQ SWPA.

CHAPTER IX

Australia and the Line of Communication

Logistics comprises the means and arrangements which work out the
plans of strategy and tactics.

Baron de Jomini, The Art of War

When in December the War Depart-
ment established in Australia the com-
mand known as USAFIA it had no
intention of using its ground forces to
defend that subcontinent or of creating
a theater of operations. All it wanted to
do was to provide a base from which to
supply the Philippines. That purpose
was soon enlarged to include the support
of ABDACOM, but not to the extent of
committing large ground forces. The
American contribution in that area,
General Marshall told Brett before he
assumed command of USAFIA, was to
be "predominantly air, with other ele-
ments limited to those necessary for
efficient air operation and the security
of the bases." 1

The advance of the Japanese into the
Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, and
the Solomons, combined with their suc-
cess along the Malay Barrier in Decem-
ber and January, brought into sharp
relief the danger to Australia and the
necessity of enlarging its defenses. This
task was assumed, somewhat reluctantly,
by the United States, and with it went
the additional burden of defending the

islands stretching across the South Pa-
cific — the life line to Australia. The
results, largely unforseen and never antic-
ipated in prewar plans, were to have a
profound effect on the war in the Pacific.

The Northeast Area

North of Australia, "like a prehistoric
monster, half bird and half reptile," 2
lies New Guinea, separating Indonesia
to the west from the islands of Melanesia
to the east. The eastern half of New
Guinea (except for the Papuan Penin-
sula) , with the islands of the Bismarck
Archipelago — New Britain, New Ireland,
and the Admiralties — and those of the
northern Solomons — Buka and Bougain-
ville — compose the Australian Mandated
Territory. The Papuan Peninsula, which
formed the tail of the New Guinea mon-
ster, was Australian colonial territory.
To the east of Papua lay the southern
Solomons, constituting a British colony.

The strategic significance of the inac-
cessible and inhospitable region compris-

'Rad, Marshall to Brett, No. 41
4628-3.

25 Dec 41, WPD

'Samuel Eliot Morison, Breaking the Bismarcks
Barrier, 22 July 1942 — 1 May 1944, vol. VI, "History
of United States Naval Operations in World War II"
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1957), p. 27.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

199

ing the southeast portion of New Guinea
and the Solomons lay in the fact that its
straits and seas and its isolated com-
munities provided a double path to the
important east coast of Australia and
the line of communications to the United
States. Both paths began at the Bismarck
Archipelago. The western route led
along the New Guinea coast, from Lae
and Salumaua to the tip of the Papuan
Peninsula, and then through the Coral
Sea to the developed and industrialized
east coast of Australia. The second route
extended from the Bismarck Archipelago
in a southeasterly direction through the
Solomons to the New Hebrides, New
Caledonia, the Fijis, and the island chain
stretching eastward to Hawaii. Far to
the south lay New Zealand, like Aus-
tralia a British Dominion and a vital link
in the imperial system.

At the apex of these two routes, on
the island of New Britain, lay Rabaul,
capital of the Australian Mandated Ter-
ritory and key to the defense of the
Northeast Area. With its first-rate har-
bor and airfield sites, Rabaul was po-
tentially the finest base in the region for
an enemy advance along either or both
routes. Conversely it could be used as a
springboard from which to attack with
air or naval forces the Japanese strong-
hold at Truk, which lay only 640 miles
to the north, and to drive in the right
flank of the Japanese position in the
Central Pacific. The other key Allied
base in the Northeast Area was Port
Moresby, which faced northeastern Aus-
tralia across the Gulf of Papua and
Torres Strait. To its rear, providing a
measure of security, lay the towering
Owen Stanley range.

With their limited forces, many of
which were serving in the Middle East

and elsewhere, the Australians could do
no more than place token garrisons in
the Northeast Area. At Port Moresby
was a brigade group of about 3,000 men,
a handful of planes, and some artillery.
The rest of New Guinea was defended
by a local militia called the New Guinea
Volunteer Reserve, while Rabaul was
garrisoned by a mixed force numbering
about 1,500 men. 3

The Japanese had no plan to invade
Australia when they went to war, but
they recognized fully the importance of
Rabaul and the Bismarck Archipelago
as a base for offensive operations and as
an outpost for the defense of Truk and
their own line of communications. In
their plans, therefore, they provided for
the "seizure of strategic points in the
Bismarck Archipelago."* This task was
to be accomplished after the occupation
of Guam and by the same force which
took that lonely American outpost — a
joint force consisting of the Army's
South Seas Detachment and the Navy's
South Seas Force.

Vice Adm. Shigeyoshi Inouye, 4th
Fleet commander, began making his
plans for an advance into the Bismarck
Archipelago immediately after the occu-
pation of Guam on 10 December. It was
not until 4 January, however, that Maj.
General Tomitaro Horii, commander of
the South Seas Detachment, was told by
Imperial General Headquarters to make

'Dudley McCarthy, Southwest Pacific Area — First
Year: Kokoda to Wau (Canberra: Australian War
Memorial, 1959), ch. II; Samuel Milner, Victory in
Papua, UNITED STATES A KMY I N WORLD
WAR II (Washington, lq.tj^. lch. iTI USSBS, The
Allied Campaign Against Rabaul (Washington,
1946), p. 6.

4 Army-Navy Central Agreement, Nov 1941, in
USSBS, The Campaigns 0/ the Pacific War, app. 12.

200

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

ready for the invasion of Rabaul, to be
undertaken around the middle of the
month. Inouye and Horii, who was di-
rectly under the control of Imperial
General Headquarters, quickly made ar-
rangements for the coming operations.
The South Seas Detachment would take
Rabaul; the South Seas Force of the 4th
Fleet, Kavieng in New Ireland. D-day
was set for 23 January. With a full ap-
preciation of the importance of Rabaul
to the Allies, the Japanese anticipated a
naval reaction, either from Australia or
Hawaii, and took every precaution to
meet such a contingency. But they had
an accurate knowledge of the defenses of
Rabaul and Kavieng and did not foresee
any difficulty in overcoming either gar-
rison. Nevertheless they made their
plans carefully, reconnoitered thor-
oughly, and began softening up the
target three weeks before the invasion
date. 5

On 14 January the South Seas Detach-
ment, a heavily reinforced regimental
combat team numbering about 5,000
men, left Guam escorted by units of the
4th Fleet. Additional protection was
furnished by three carriers and support-
ing warships detached from the Pearl
Harbor force and led by Admiral
Nagumo himself; a scouting force of
four heavy cruisers; and a separate sub-
marine force of six large underwater
craft. At dawn of the 20th and again on
the 21st, Nagumo sent his carrier planes
against Rabaul and nearby points along
the New Guinea coast to complete the

"This account of the planning and seizure of
Rabaul and Kavieng is based on Hist of the South
Seas Detachment, Japanese Studies in World War II,
36; Japanese Opns in SWPA, series II, ch. V; South-
east Area Air Opns and Southeast Area Naval Opns,
Japanese Studies in World War II, 38 and 48.

destruction begun on the 4th by Truk-
based bombers. Then, while the carriers
and cruisers stood off to the north to
repel a counterattack and the submarines
took up positions before St. George's
Channel between New Britain and New
Ireland, the convoys moved toward the
target. An hour before midnight of the
2 2d the invasion force hove to in Rabaul
Harbor.

The weeks of bombing had accom-
plished their purpose and Rabaul was
virtually without air or coastal defenses
when Horii took his South Seas Detach-
ment ashore in the early hours of the
23d. The Australians put up only a
nominal defense. Hopelessly outnum-
bered and outgunned, they retreated
into the hills and jungle behind the
town. Four hundred men of the garrison
made good their escape; the rest were
captured or- killed. By noon the Japa-
nese were in control of Rabaul. 6

Meanwhile, the force designated for
the occupation of Kavieng, two compa-
nies of special naval landing troops, had
left Truk on the 20th and under separate
escort sailed directly to New Ireland. On
the morning of the 23d this force landed
at Kavieng without opposition, the de-
fenders having been captured as they
sought to make their escape in small
boats. Thus, in a few hours, with almost
no casualties, the Japanese had gained
control of the strategic Bismarck Archi-
pelago and uncovered the outer defenses
of the Northeast Area.

In the weeks that followed the Japa-
nese consolidated their hold on the area
and began to convert Rabaul into a
formidable base. Mopping-up operations

"For an account of the Rabaul operation, see Wig-
more, The Japanese Thrust, ch. XVIII.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

201

were completed by the end of the month
and troops posted on adjacent islands to
establish an outer ring of defense. In the
invasion convoy had been a large num-
ber of construction troops and these
were put to work immediately to repair
and improve existing airfields, build new
ones, and construct naval facilities. On
30 January 9 Zeros from Truk moved to
Rabaul, and soon after 20 medium
bombers landed at the Vinakauan air-
field outside the town. By the end of
February an entire air group — 48 me-
dium bombers, a similar number of
fighters, and 12 flying boats — was based
at Rabaul. 7

The fall of Rabaul alarmed the Aus-
tralians as nothing else had. General
Wavell's ABDACOM still provided some
measure of protection against invasion
from the northwest, but the Northeast
Area was now virtually unprotected.
This possibility had been foreseen when
the ABDA area was created and the
British had then suggested that the U.S.
Pacific Fleet assume responsibility for
the defense of the northeast approaches to
Australia and for the line of communi-
cation. Still reeling from the blow at
Pearl Harbor, the Navy refused this ad-
ditional burden, but Admiral King had
on 1 January directed his planners to
study the problem. The result was a
recommendation to establish the ANZAC
area envisaged a year before in ABC-i,
but to enlarge it on the north and east to
include the Fijis, New Hebrides, and
New Caledonia, Air and naval forces in
this area would be supplied by Australia
and New Zealand, assisted by the United
States, and would be under the direction

of an American flag officer responsible to
the Commander in Chief of the Pacific
Fleet. 8

This proposal, as finally amended by
Admiral King and the British First Sea
Lord, Admiral Pound, was submitted to
the Australian Government on 8 Janu-
ary. For reasons that are not clear, the
Australians, though extremely concerned
over the defense of the Northeast Area,
took no action for two weeks. Finally,
on 23 January, the day the Japanese took
Rabaul, the Australian Prime Minister,
John Curtin, agreed to the establish-
ment of the ANZAC area under Ameri-
can command, but with assumptions
about the responsibilities of the Pacific
Fleet commander that took another week
to remove. It was not until the end of
the month, therefore, that ANZAC was
formally established, with Vice Adm.
Herbert F. Leary in command. His task
was to cover the eastern and northeastern
approaches to Australia and New Zea-
land; protect Allied shipping and sup-
port the defense of the islands in the
area; and, finally, destroy enemy forces
and attack enemy positions in the area.

The ANZAC command, like
ABDACOM, was short-lived, but un-
like that ill-fated command did not dis-
integrate under Japanese pressure but
because it had outlived its usefulness.
Nor did Admiral Leary have responsi-
bility for the defense of the land areas
included in ANZAC; his was exclusively
a naval and air command. Initially it
consisted of three Australian cruisers,
plus some destroyers and corvettes. To

'USSBS, The Allied Campaign Against Rabaul,
pp. 6-7, 11-12.

8 CCS 15, The ANZAC Area, 29 Jan 42, ABC 323.31
(1-24-42) POA 1; Mins, White House Conf, 1 Jan
42, WDCSA 334 Mtgs and Conf; Hayes, The War
Against Japan, vol. I, ch. I, pp. 61-64; ABC— 1, ann. 3,
in Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 15, p. 1516.

202

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

these were added the USS Chicago and
two destroyers from the Pacific Fleet. A
squadron of B— 17's from Hawaii was
assigned and it reached Townsville in
northeast Australia on 17 February.
Several days later these bombers hit Ra-
baul in the first blow of a long campaign
of attrition to neutralize that rapidly
growing Japanese base. 9

The establishment of ANZAC was
only one of the measures taken to meet
the danger created by Japanese
occupation of Rabaul. 10 It was at this
time, too, that the Australians approved
a proposal the Combined Chiefs had
made on 1 1 January to include Darwin
and the northwest coast of Australia in
General Wavell's ABDA area. This
approval came on 23 January, the same
day that the Australians agreed to the
establishment of ANZAC, and the Com-
bined Chiefs immediately notified
Wavell of his new responsibilities. 11

While this change gave some hope for
the security of Darwin (which the U.S.
Navy was then using as a base, but
which it abandoned after the attack of
19 February) , it did not meet the prob-
lem of defending Port Moresby in the
Northeast Area. The ANZAC force
alone could not, the Australians believed,
give them the protection they needed
and they so informed the British while
requesting 250 more fighter planes and

"G. Harmon Gill, Royal Australian Navy, rpyp—
42, ser. 2, vol. 1, "Australia in ihe War of 1939-1945"
(Canberra: Australian War Mem orial. 1957). p- 519;
Milner, Victory in Papua \p. 8. |

10 The measures discussed in the remainder of this
section are covered fully in Hayes, The War Against
Japan, ch. II, pp. 7-12; Matloff and Snell, Strategic
Planning, 1941—42, pp. 128—31.

"CCS 8, Inclusion of Port Darwin in ABDA, 24 Jan
42, ABC 323.31 (1-29-42); Wavell, "ABDACOM,"
p. 4; Rad, CCS to Wavell, DBA 2, 24 Jan 42, OPD
ABDA Msg File; Gill, Royal Australian Navy, p. 517.

a squadron of the American P-40's al-
lotted to General Wavell. Neither the
British nor the American Chiefs could
meet this new and unexpected request,
but offered as an alternative to include
Port Moresby in the ABDA area. Gen-
eral Wavell argued strongly against this
solution as well as the suggestion that he
divert some of his planes to the Aus-
tralians, and the matter was dropped. 12

But the problem of meeting Aus-
tralia's demand for fighter planes was
still not solved. After considerable dis-
cussion, General Marshall agreed to
divert one American squadron to the
defense of Port Moresby. This solution,
though it failed to satisfy the Austral-
ians, was one which, perforce, they had
to accept. 13 But by the time this deci-
sion was made the ANZAC force had
taken over responsibility for the air and
naval defense of the Northeast Area.

It was now early February and the
signs of disintegration along the Malay
Barrier to the northwest were clearly
evident. Here was another threat to an
Australia already concerned over the
security of the northeast flank. Two of
its divisions, the 6th and 7th, were due
from the Middle East this month and
the next. Under existing plans they
were to be used in the defense of the
Netherlands Indies, and thus, indirectly,
of Australia itself. To this arrangement
the Australian Government had no ob-
jections. But on 13 February General
Wavell raised another possibility. In

"Memo, Gerow for Marshall, 27 Jan 42, sub: Msgs
for Australia, WPD 4628-24; Rads, CCS to ABDA
COM, DBA 5, 29 Jan 42; Wavell to CCS, 00649, l Feb
42; all in OPD ABDA Msg File; Mins, CCS Mtgs, 23
and 27 Jan 42.

"Mins, CCS Mtg, 3 Feb 42; Rads, CCS to Wavell,
DBA 8, 3 Feb 42; Marshall to Wavell, 5 Feb 42, OPD
ABDA Msg File.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

203

view of the early loss of Singapore and
the prospects of an invasion of Sumatra
and Java he suggested to the Combined
Chiefs that at least one of the two Aus-
tralian divisions be sent instead to
Burma. 14

In Washington there was a full appre-
ciation of the seriousness of the situation
along the Malay Barrier. It was recog-
nized, too, that, in the event ABDACOM
fell, the United States could best defend
the right (east) flank and the British the
left in Southeast Asia. 15 But the British
could ill spare the troops to send there
and the Australians had already made it
evident that they would not permit their
divisions to serve in Burma. Moreover
there was in the Middle East a thir_d
Australian division, the gth, which was
scheduled to return home soon. If the
British were to have the use of any of
these troops, then the United States, it
was becoming increasingly clear, would
have to provide more than air or service
troops for the defense of Australia.

It is against this background that the
action that followed Wavell's message of
the igth can be best understood. Up to
that time the policy of the War Depart-
ment, reiterated time and again, had
been to send out only aircraft and the
necessary service and supporting troops
to Australia. Now, on 14 February, the
War Department suddenly reversed it-
self and decided to send an infantry divi-
sion — the 41st — as well as additional
supporting troops, all together about
25,000 men, for the ground defense of

Australia. Two days later, with the help
of Harry Hopkins, the ships required for
most of these troops had been found. In
a period when shipping space was the
most precious of Allied resources, this
rapid action was indeed remarkable. 16

The Americans and British now turned
to the Australian Government for aid in
Burma. On the 16th, after the fall of
Singapore, Wavell had come out flatly
for the diversion of both the 6th and 7th
Australian Divisions to Burma on the
ground that they would have a "very
great effect on Japanese strategy and a
heartening effect on China and India." 17
Reinforcements for Australia, he said,
unaware of the decision made in Wash-
ington two days earlier, should be pro-
vided by the United States. The United
States and British Governments, unwill-
ing to go as far as Wavell and believing
that Australia would never consent to
his proposal, asked Curtin for only one
of the divisions for Burma. To these
official requests were added the personal
appeals of Churchill and Roosevelt, the
latter enjoining the Australian Prime
Minister to "have every confidence that
we are going to reinforce your position
with all possible speed." 18 But the Aus-
tralians were adamant. They had con-
tributed much to the imperial cause and
would neither risk the loss of their men
in Burma nor jeopardize the security of

"Rad, Wavell to CCS, CCOS 7, 13 Feb 42, OPD
ABDA Msg File.

15 Rad, Roosevelt to Prime Minister, 18 Feb 43,
ABC 523.31 (1—29-42 sec. 1A) POA; Sherwood,
Roosevelt and Hopkins, pp. 502^03.

"Rad, Wavell to Prime Minister, 16 Feb 42, OPD
ABDA Msg File; Memo, Marshall for Eisenhower, 14
Feb 42, no sub, WPD 4630—64; Churchill, Hinge of
Fate, pp. 140, passim; Matloff and Snell, Strategic
Planning, 1941—42, pp. 128—30; Leighton and Coak-
ley. Global Logistics and Strategy, p. 174.

"Rad, Wavell to Prime Minister, 16 Feb 42, OPD
ABDA Msg File.

"Rad. Roosevelt to Curtin, No. 330, 20 Feb 42,
OPD ABDA Msg File; Churchill, Hinge of Fate, p.
•57-

■S92496CMS2-15

204

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

the homeland to grant the British the
use of their 7th Division. 19

This refusal did not affect the move-
ment of American ground troops to Aus-
tralia. The first echelon of the 41st Divi-
sion left the west coast early in March
and the rest sailed from San Francisco
later in the month and during April. 20
Thus, the United States had committed
itself, less than three months after the
attack on Pearl Harbor, to the ground
defense of Australia, with all that such a
defense implied.

The Line of Communications

Intimately associated with the defense
of Australia as well as the larger prob-
lems of future strategy in the Pacific was
the line of communications between that
country and the United States. The is-
lands along this line lay generally south
of the equator, far from the well-traveled
air and sea routes to the north. Their
strategic significance lay in the fact that
once the Central Pacific was lost, they
offered the only route to the sister Do-
minions of Australia and New Zealand.
Should this South Pacific line be cut
these Dominions would be isolated and
the island possessions of the Allies lost
to the enemy.

This fact was thoroughly understood
by the Japanese naval planners. The
lessons taught by Admiral Mahan had
not been lost on these officers and they
looked on the islands of the South Pacific
with an envious eye. Fortunately for the
Allied cause, they were unable to in-

19 Rad, Curtin to Churchill, zi Feb 42, OPD ABDA
Msg File.

"Memos, WPD for G-3, 17 and 19 Feb 42, sub:
Movement of Troops to SUMAC, WPD 4630—66 and
70; Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and Stra-
tegy, p. 174.

elude these islands in their war plans for
the timetable of conquest was too close
and the initial operations too numerous
and scattered. But they did not overlook
them either. In his order to the Com-
bined Fleet setting out the tasks to be
accomplished, Admiral Yamamoto listed
among the "areas expected to be occu-
pied or destroyed as quickly as opera-
tional conditions permit the Fijis. . .and
Samoa," as well as "strategic points in
the Australian Area." 21 Taken in con-
junction with the occupation of the Bis-
marck Archipelago and the islands of the
Central Pacific, this statement of inten-
tions had large implications for the war
in the Pacific.

The United States had recognized
early the importance of the islands of
the South Pacific and in October 1941
had begun building airfields on some of
them to provide an alternate air ferry
route to the Philippines. But the work
had only just begun when war came and,
except for local defense forces, none of
the islands had been garrisoned. This
lack was partially remedied in the days
following Pearl Harbor when General
Short in Hawaii sent token forces con-
sisting of a few gun crews to Canton and
Christmas Islands, both of which were
under his jurisdiction. He could do no
more until his own urgent needs were
filled. 22

Primary responsibility for the local
defense of the islands of the Pacific
rested with the governing nations —
Great Britain, New Zealand, the Free
French, Australia, and, in the case of

"Combined Fleet Opn Order No. 1, 5 Nov 41, copy
in Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 3, p. 438.

M See above, [p. 99;! Mins, JB Mtg, 26 Nov 41;
Msgs in AG 381 (11—27—41 sec. 1) Far East; K. Will-
iams, The South Pacific Air Route, TJSAF Hist
Studies, No. 45.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

205

Hawaii, Samoa, and other small islands,
the United States. But the task of guard-
ing the sea lanes to Australia and New
Zealand — a separate though related prob-
lem to that of local defense — was the
responsibility of the Pacific Fleet and
British naval forces. Under ABC-i and
the Rainbow plan, the former was re-
sponsible for the defense of the area east
of the 180th meridian, that is, up to but
not including the Fijis and New Zea-
land; the latter for the region to the
west as far as longitude 155 east. The
Pacific Fleet had the additional mission
of supporting the British in their area
of responsibility which included the east
coast of Australia and the southeast
portion of the Papuan Peninsula. 2 *

This arrangement was invalidated al-
most immediately on the outbreak of war
when the Chief of Naval Operations had
declared that the Pacific Fleet could do
no more than defend the area east of the
180th meridian. The result of this deci-
sion, which the British and Australians
accepted only because they had to, left
a vacuum in the Allied defenses, which,
it was apparent, the Japanese would soon
fill if the Allies did not. Late in Decem-
ber, therefore, when the initial shock of
the Pearl Harbor attack had worn off,
Admiral King ordered the recently ap-
pointed Commander in Chief of the
Pacific Fleet, Admiral Nimitz, to main-
tain the line of communication to Aus-
tralia by extending his control of the
line Hawaii-Samoa westward to include
the Fijis "at earliest practicable date."
This task, King told Nimitz, was second
and "only in small degrees less impor-
tant" than the protection of the line of

communication from Midway to Hawaii
and the west coast. 24

This decision did not ensure the secu-
rity of the line of communications, how-
ever, for it still left the area west of the
Fijis uncovered and made no provision
for local defense. The problem was
therefore laid before the first U.S.-British
conference then in session in Washing-
ton. No one there disagreed with the
necessity for holding the islands, which
it was recognized not only furnished an
air route across the Pacific but provided
bases for Allied air and naval forces and
outposts for the defense of Hawaii and
Australia as well. UMap 5) The real
problem for the planners was to find
the troops to do the job and the shipping
to support them. The formula finally
agreed upon, on 10 January, was to allo-
cate responsibility for the defense of the
islands east of the 180th meridian to the
United States, and those west of that line
to New Zealand and Australia. 25

Even before this agreement was
reached, the Americans had been assem-
bling the forces needed to garrison the
islands in their area of responsibility.
The Army, it had been decided, would
provide the garrisons for Christmas, Can-
ton, and Bora Bora; the Navy, for Palmy-
ra and Samoa. These garrisons would be
small, for it was recognized that the secu-
rity of the islands depended ultimately
on air and naval power, rather than on
the strength of the ground forces. To
convert each island into an impregnable

2, ABC— 1, copy in Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings,
pt. 15; Mins, JB Mtg, 8 Dec 41.

M Ltr, Secy for Collab to Br Staff Mission, 16 Dec 41,
sub: Modification of ABC-i; Rad, COM1NCH to
CINCPAC, 1740, 30 Dec 41, both cited in Hayes, The
War Against Japan, ch. I, pp. n, 58.

M ABC-4, 31 Dec 41; ABC-4/8, 10 Jan 42, sub:
Defense of Island Bases, both in Arcadia; Memo,
WPD for CofS, 4 Jan 42, sub: Troop Movements to
Pacific Bases, WPD 4571-22.

206

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

THE SOUTH PACIFIC

LINE OF COMMUNICATIONS

TO AUSTRALIA

'Midway

A *A

'I,

1942

ABDACOM

MARtANA .

ISLANDS .

'Guam

'Wake
I.

.a $ PANAt4&__

Honolulu-** ««*"« '

Patau

Truk Is.
CAROLINE I SLAND5

MARSHALL

IS.

GILBERT
IS-

PHOENIX IS.

ANZAC AREA

Espirrtu SanlOh'j NEW

tNIANi.,

„ NEW

^ CALEDONIA-*,,^^

ELL ICE

FIJI .
IS \

t HEBRIDES «S* \

Efate'. \,, t , , .....a*™

r Viti Lem

ZOO 400 600

STATUTE MILES

MAP 3

J>. Jfatmxs, Jr

fortress would not only be wasteful of
precious troop strength and shipping,
but would probably be less effective than
defense by mobile air and naval forces.
Thus the strength of the Canton and
Christmas garrisons was set at about
2,000 men each, chiefly infantry and ar-
tillery, and a squadron of pursuit planes.
Bora Bora, which the Navy planned to
use as a refueling station, was given an
Army garrison of 4,000 consisting largely
of an infantry and an antiaircraft
artillery regiment. 28

"Relevant papers on the planning and organiza-
tion of these garrisons are filed in WPD 4571-22 and
24. The story of the establishment of the base at
B0ra Bora, with emphasis on the logistical problem,

Palmyra, between Hawaii and Canton,
was an essential link in the new air ferry
route. The Navy had begun, a year
before the war, to develop a seaplane
base there but wished now to enlarge
its facilities and to garrison the island.
For this purpose it sent out a Marine
detachment and naval construction units,
while the Army supplied a pursuit
squadron for local protection. Plans for
the expansion of military facilities in
American Samoa, which had been under
naval administration since its acquisition

is told in Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and
Strategy, ch. VII; see also, Craven and Cate, AAF I,
p. 431.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

207

in 1899 and already possessed air and
naval installations, were also pushed vig-
orously by the Navy. Its defenses were
provided by a Marine brigade which
left San Diego on 6 January, escorted
by a naval force including the carriers
Enterprise and Yorktown, and which
reached the island seventeen days later. 27

The defense of Hawaii was a special
case. In the first days of war its rein-
forcement had seemed perhaps the most
urgent task facing the Army and Navy,
but by Christmas 1941 concern for its
safety had somewhat abated. Priority for
troops and equipment had then shifted
to the Southwest Pacific. But General
Emmons, the new commander of the
Hawaiian Department, had been prom-
ised in December large reinforcements,
including one square division, an ar-
mored regiment, aircraft of all types, and
service troops. These, he had been told
at the time, would be shipped later, after
the emergency in the Southwest Pacific
had passed. The threat in that area,
however, had increased rather than
diminished, and, with the additional ne-
cessity of reinforcing the line of commu-
nications, had made the prospect of
strengthening Hawaii's defenses more
remote than ever. 28

In February, therefore, when Emmons
requested reinforcements above those al-

" Department of the Navy, Building the Navy's
Bases in World War II, (Washington, 1947), pp. 121—
22, 190-95, 208—13; Morison, The Rising Sun in the
Pacific, p. 2,59; Craven and Cate, AAF I, p. 437,

"Rad, Marshall to Emmons, No. 1013, 16 Jan 42;
Emmons to TAG, No. 1677, 13 Jan 42, both in WPD
^Isg File; Memo, Gerow for Eisenhower, 20 Feb 42,
sub: Reinforcements for Hawaii, WPD 3444-1 9. See
also Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, 1941-42,
p. 152; Conn, Engelman, and Fairchild, Guarding
the United States and Its Outposts, ch. VIII.

ready authorized, the whole question of
the defense of Hawaii and its troop re-
quirements came up for review. By this
time it was clear that the major part of
the Japanese forces was committed to the
Southwest Pacific and that Hawaii was
no longer in danger of invasion. The
Japanese were still capable of air and
naval raids against the islands, but this
threat could be met by the Pacific Fleet
and the air strength already allotted.
It was recognized, moreover, that the
assignment of additional air and ground
forces to Hawaii would play into Japan's
hands for it would pin down American
strength and consume valuable shipping
space without any appreciable effect on
Japanese military forces. The Joint
Chiefs therefore turned down Emmons'
new requests and decided to send him
only what had been promised earlier. 29

This decision made, the Army hast-
ened the shipment of the promised but
long-overdue reinforcements to Hawaii.
In mid-February an advance party of the
27th Division left the west coast to make
preparations for the arrival of the rest
of the division. In ships loaned by the
British, the New York National Guard
division was moved to Hawaii in three
echelons during March. But at the end
of the month there were still 40,000
troops allocated to the Hawaiian garrison
in the United States awaiting shipment. 30

Providing forces for the islands west
of the 180th meridian was not initially
an American responsibility. For the

"JCS 11 and 11/1, Hawaiian Defense Forces, 12
Feb 42, ABC 381 (2-12-42) Hawaii.

"Edmund G. Love, The 2jth Infantry Division in
World War II (Washington: Infantry Journal Press,
1Q 49)> P- '8. Relevant papers are filed in AG 370—5
(12—26-41).

208

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Fijis, which many thought to be seriously
threatened, the United States agreed to
provide air and antiaircraft forces. But
it was New Zealand which furnished
most of the air as well as the ground
defenses of the island, a contribution
which exceeded 8,000 men, including
the native Fijian troops who later ac-
quired an awesome reputation as jungle
fighters. 31

The security of New Caledonia was
one of the most bothersome problems
of the Pacific area. Second in size only
to New Zealand among the islands in
the South Pacific and an important sta-
tion along the air ferry route, New Cale-
donia had a dual strategic significance.
Not only did it lie at the end of the
long line of islands stretching across the
Pacific, but it flanked the northeast ap-
proaches to Australia from New Guinea
and the Solomons. Moreover it con-
tained valuable deposits of nickel and
chrome, which would undoubtedly make
it a tempting prize, Admiral King
thought, for the metal-hungry Japanese.

The defense of New Caledonia was
complicated by political factors. Sover-
eignty was exercised by the Free French
Government in London through a High
Commissioner, Admiral Georges Thierry
d'Argenlieu, but responsibility for its
defense was assigned by the Allies to
Australia. Neither could spare the large
forces required to make this vital outpost
secure. The French had on the island
1,400 poorly equipped, ill-trained troops,
mostly natives, and the Australians could
contribute only a single company of
commandos. Reinforcements were ur-
gently needed, and it was this need that

projected the United States into the con-
fused politics of New Caledonia and
made that island one of the major
American bases in the Pacific. 32

American interest in New Caledonia
predated the war. Since October 1941
the United States had been actively nego-
tiating with the Free French for the right
to construct an airfield there. Work on
the field was well along on 7 December,
despite conflict between the French and
the Australians who were building the
airstrip. Pearl Harbor gave an added
impetus to this effort and an urgency
to the island's defense that was height-
ened when General Charles de Gaulle
threw in his lot with the powers arrayed
against Japan and offered to make avail-
able to the Allies the Free French islands
of the Pacific. 33 Neither Australia nor
the United States, however, was yet ready
to assume responsibility for the defense
of the island.

The progress of negotiations soon hit
a snag. General de Gaulle and his Pacific
representative, Admiral d'Argenlieu, had
approved American plans for the devel-
opment of airfields in New Caledonia
with the understanding that these fields
would be under a French commander
who would in turn be subordinate to
any Allied command established in the
Southwest Pacific. Such an Allied com-

" Craven and Cate, AAF I, pp. 430-31, 434.

13 This account of the reinforcement of New Cale-
donia is based on OPD Hist MS, Delaying and Con-
taining Action in the Pacific, pp. 28—35; Matloff and
Snell, Strategic Planning, ip^i-^2, pp. 115—17; Hayes,
The War Against Japan, ch. II, pp. 59-60; Capt.
Francis D. Cronin, Under the Southern Cross (Wash-
ington: Combat Forces Press, 1951), ch. I. Valuable
material is contained in WPD 3718, AG 381 (n-27-
44) (1-19-42), and folder entitled Political Distur-
bances, New Caledonia, OCMH.

M Capt Tracy B. Kittredge, Evolution of Global
Strategy, pt. II, ch. II, pp. 29-30, JCS Hist Div,

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

209

maud, they had assumed, would be
American. By arrangements between the
Americans and British, however. New
Caledonia fell into the British area of
responsibility, and had been delegated
by them to the Australians, When
d'Argenlieu learned of this arrangement
he insisted that the French command all
Allied forces and installations on the
island and demanded that he be in-
formed of plans for the area. He per-
mitted the Australians to continue work
on the airfield, but on a temporary
basis. 34

Weeks passed and d'Argenlieu re-
ceived no word of plans for the defense
of the island or of the decisions reached
by the Americans and British then meet-
ing in Washington. Increasingly nervous
over the safety of the island, where Jap-
anese submarines had already been
sighted, and unable to get any satisfac-
tion from the Australians, the French
turned to the Americans — to General
Emmons in Hawaii and to officials in
Washington — with their complaints. Fi-
nally, on about 15 January, dArgenlieu
told Emmons that if reinforcements were
not sent immediately it would be neces-
sary to stop all work on the airfields
because they would, when completed,
provide the Japanese with a strong in-
ducement for attacking New Caledonia. ati

Already a decision on the defense of
New Caledonia had been made, based
not on d'Argenlieu's thinly veiled
threats but on a sober review by the
Combined Chiefs of the needs of the

"Ibid., pp. 31-33.

"Memo, GofS for Secy Slate, so Jan 42, sub: De-
fense of New Caledonia, WPn 5718-14. Many of the
papers dealing with New Caledonia are locaLeri in
this file.

islands along the line of communica-
tions. By that decision, which was kept
a carefully guarded secret from the
French, the United States agreed to as-
sume Australia's obligations in New
Caledonia. The size of the force it agreed
to send there was the largest yet allo-
cated to the Pacific, except for Hawaii
and Australia, and consisted of one divi-
sion (reinforced), two air squadrons, and
service troops. So large an undertaking
strained an already overloaded shipping
schedule and made even more marked
the discrepancy between a strategy that
placed the war in Europe first and a
program that sent the bulk of the troops
to the Pacific,

The Army planners recognized — and
deplored — this and other diversions
from the main theater but could not
deny the necessity that had created them.
Immediately they set to work assembling
the forces required and making arrange-
ments for their shipment. Instead of
selecting a division already organized
and trained the planners put together a
force, under the command of Brig. Gen.
Alexander M. Patch, Jr., of about 15,000
men, many of them from the recently
triangularized 26th and 33d National
Guard Divisions. Though this force,
designated Task Force G184, consisted
of an "odd conglomeration" of units
that gave it the appearance, at first
glance, of a "military stew of men and
equipment," it had many of the marks
of an infantry division. There was a
brigade headquarters from the 26th Divi-
sion, two infantry regiments, the 153d
and 184th, a field artillery regiment with
J55-mm. howitzers, and the usual service
elements, strengthened by attachments.
But it included also a battalion of light
tanks, a pursuit squadron, an antiair-

210

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

craft regiment, and a coast artillery bat-
talion. 36

The mission given General Patch was
brief: to hold New Caledonia, in co-
operation with the military forces of the
United Nations, against all attacks. Pre-
sumably he would receive no reinforce-
ments. He was an independent com-
mander, responsible only to the War
Department and reporting directly to
Washington. But his authority was more
restricted than it appeared on the sur-
face. He had, for example, no control
over the airfields which were causing so
much difficulty with the French. That
was the responsibility of General
Emmons, over 3,000 miles away, and of
the Australians who were doing the con-
struction work. Also, responsibility for
the supply of his force was shared by the
San Francisco Port of Embarkation and
General Barnes in Australia, who had
also to meet the demands of Brereton
and Brett for the ABDA area and Mac-
Arthur for the Philippines. Finally, as
Patch soon learned, the question of
French participation in the command
of forces on the island was still far from
settled. 37

In the record time of two weeks, not
without considerable difficulty and con-
fusion, Task Force 6184, including about
4,000 air and service troops for Austra-
lia, was organized, equipped, and loaded
aboard seven transports, all that could
be assembled on the east coast at that
time. On 23 January it sailed from New
York and reached Melbourne, via the

"Cronin, Under the Southern Cross, p. 4. For a list
of the units in TF 6184, see p. 422; Matloff and Snell,
Strategic Planning, 1941—43, p. 149, N. 10.

"Memo, WPD for TAG, «a Jan 42, sub: Defense
of New Caledonia, WPD 3718-17.

General Patch being greeted by Admiral
d'Argenlieu.

Panama Canal, on 26 February. In Aus-
tralia, where there was considerable anx-
iety over the safety of the homeland and
where American ground forces had not
yet made their appearance, envious eyes
were cast upon this large force, not only
by the Australians but by the American
commanders as well. But there was no
mistaking the destination of Task Force
6184 or General Marshall's injunction
that this force was to be used along the
line of communications, not as reinforce-
ments for Australia or the ABDA area. 38
Meanwhile Admiral d'Argenlieu had
become more and more insistent in his
demand for troops and equipment. Fear-
ing premature disclosure through Free
French channels of the movement of so
large a force, General Marshall was ada-

"Rad, Marshall to Brett, No. 69, 2 Feb 4*, AG 381
(1 1-27-41 sec. sA), Far East.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

211

Forward Echelon of the 41st Division en route to Australia unloading at Oro Bay,
New Guinea.

mant in his refusal to do more than
authorize General Emmons to tell the
admiral that the Allies would provide
for the defense of New Caledonia. The
nationality, composition, size, and time
of arrival of the force were kept secret
and d'Argenlieu, perforce, had to con-
tent himself with Emmons' assurances
that the island would be defended.

The transshipment of Task Force 6184
from Melbourne to New Caledonia was
a heavy task. The troops had to be
debarked and those intended for use
in Australia sent to their destinations
with their equipment. The remainder
of the men had to be housed and fed
in nearby camps while the cargo was

sorted, rearranged, and loaded. 39 Gen-
eral Patch had left for Australia by air
via the South Atlantic route to make
these arrangements, carrying with him
the manifests and other documents. But
he fell ill in Trinidad and had to return
to Washington for hospitalization. Later
he flew directly across the Pacific to New
Caledonia, stopping only at Hawaii to
consult with General Emmons. Mean-
while Barnes made whatever prepara-
tions he could until another courier
arrived.

"Lcighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and Stra-
tegy, p. 150 passim. The documents on this shipment
are well summarized in Matloff and Snell, Strategic
Planning, 1491—42, p. 150, n, 14.

212

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Laboring in the heat of the Australian
summer, the dock workers at Melbourne
completed their task by 6 March and on
that date the seven transports of Task
Force 6184, with naval escort, set sail
for New Caledonia. After an unevent-
ful voyage they entered the harbor of
Noumea at the southwest tip of the cigar-
shaped island six days later. There
arrangements for their unloading had
already been made by an advance party
flown in from Melbourne. General
Patch had arrived on the 5th, bringing
with him the information that d'Argen-
lieu had been seeking for so long and
the news that a large force would soon
reach the island. This news and the
arrival of Task Force 6184 put to rest
the uncertainty and fears of the French,
but, unfortunately, did not end the dif-
ficulties that had plagued the planners
and diplomats and now rested on Patch's
shoulders.

Although General Patch had been told
he could expect no reinforcements, these
were soon on the way. In mid-April, he
received a third infantry regiment, the
164th, and authority to organize from
his force an infantry division. This was
done in May when the Americal Divi-
sion, which was to fight its way from
Guadalcanal to Tokyo, was created.

By the time Task Force 6184 arrived
in New Caledonia the 41st Division was
on its way to Australia and the garrisons
organized early in January to defend the
line of communications had already
reached their destinations. In the Fijis
was the 70th Pursuit Squadron. The
Bora Bora garrison, which left Charles-
ton on 27 January, completed its jour-
ney in three weeks but so hastily had it
been assembled and shipped that it did
not complete its unloading until almost

two months later. The Christmas Island
and Canton garrisons left San Francisco
on 31 January and were at their stations
before the middle of February. 40 The
line of communications between the
United States and Australia, which had
lain so nakedly exposed to Japanese
attack in the dark days after Pearl Har-
bor, was, three months later, rapidly
being converted into a chain of island
bases linking the two countries. But it
was still only a thin line of defense,
weakly held and easily pierced, and the
danger of attack was still a live threat.

(Table 3)

The Japanese Threat

The Japanese had not been idle dur-
ing these months. Even before the war
their naval planners had contended that
they could not stop with the seizure of
Rabaul but must go on to establish con-
trol over the Solomons and the northeast
coast of New Guinea. Such action would
not only secure the Japanese position in
the Bismarck Archipelago with the least
cost through air attrition, but would, the
naval planners noted, provide a spring-
board for further advances to the Fijis,
Samoa, and "strategic points in the Aus-
tralia Area." Though they were unable
to win approval for this scheme in the
prewar plan, the naval planners did
not abandon the project but placed it
on their agenda, to be accomplished
"as quickly as operational conditions
permit." 41

Hardly had Rabaul fallen when the

"MatlofE and Snell, Strategic Planning, 1941-42,
p. 150; Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and
Strategy, ch. VII.

"Combined Fleet Operational Order No. 1, 5 Nov
41, Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings, pt. 3, p. 438.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

213

Table 3 — Major Army Combat Forces for the Pacific, Present and Projected,

April-May 1942

BaBe

Infantry

Artillery

Aircraft

Hawaii

Divisions:
24 th Division
25th Division
27 th Division
(Additional Division
projected.)

AA Regiments:

6 Present

1 Projected
CAC Regiments

(155-mm. Gun), 2

Heavy Bombers:

41 Present
96 Projected

Medium and Light
Bombers:
26 Present

Pursuit:
179 Present
225 Projected

Australia.-

Divisions:

32d ?„

fiLn route
41st \

AA Regiments, 3
AA Battalions, 3

Heavy Bombers:

41 Present

80 Projected
Medium and Light

Bombers:

152 Present and
En route

207 Projected
Pursuit:

477 Present and
En route

640 Projected

New Caledonia _

Divisions, Americal

AA Regiment, 1
CAC Battalion,
155-mm. Gun, 1

Pursuit:

40 Present
75 Projected

Fijis

Division, 37th, Projected

Pursuit, 25

Bora Bora

Regiments, 102d Infantry
(less one Battalion)

AA Regiment, 1

Christmas .

Battalion, 1

CA Battalions, 2

Pursuit, 25

Canton. . _

2 Companies

CA Battalions, 2

Pursuit:

40 Present
50 Projected

Tongatabu

147th Infantry reinforced
(less one bn)

AA Regiment, 1

Pursuit, 25 Present

Efate

24th Infantry (reinforced)

214

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Navy high command raised the question
of a further advance into the area north-
east of Australia. "Operational condi-
tions," the naval officers thought, were
ripe for an extension of the original
perimeter into the Solomon Islands and
northeast New Guinea, to Lae and Sala-
maua in the Huon Gulf, and even to
Port Moresby. Such a move, they ar-
gued, would not only strengthen Japan's
defensive position but would deny the
Allies key bases for counterattack. From
airfields in this area the Imperial Navy
could keep a close watch on enemy naval
movements far to the south and at the
same time "intensify pressure on north-
eastern Australia," hindering its use for
air operations by the Allies. These large
results, naval officers did not fail to point
out to their Army colleagues, could be
achieved at slight cost and with few
troops. 42

While the Army planners were digest-
ing this tempting morsel, the Navy pre-
sented them with still another dish —
one on which they nearly choked. Since
the main reason for advancing beyond
the original perimeter was to delay an
Allied counteroffensive from the south,
why not, the Navy asked, seize the main
enemy base by taking Australia itself?
Apparently carried away by its own
boldness the Navy went even further —
there were no limits to this kind of
strategy — and proposed that India, too,
be taken as a means of forestalling Allied
recovery and reorganization. Clearly the
naval staff, as one of the Japanese ad-

mirals put it, had succumbed to the
"so-called Victory Disease." 43

No decision was reached on the inva-
sion of Australia or India at this time.
At least twelve divisions would be re-
quired to invade Australia, the Army
planners said, as well as supplies and
shipping in such magnitude as to make
the operation "a reckless undertaking far
in excess of Japan capabilities." 44 Simi-
lar reasons ruled out the move against
India. The Navy did not push these
projects — though it had its own plans
for carrier strikes in the Indian Ocean
— and was satisfied to let the matter rest
for the time being.

To the proposal to advance into New
Guinea and the Solomons the Army
could find few objections. It was a fea-
sible operation, would have significant
results, and would require relatively few
Army troops. Agreement was quickly
reached. On 2g January Imperial Gen-
eral Headquarters issued orders direct-
ing Army and Navy forces in the
Bismarcks to occupy the Lae-Salamaua
area in New Guinea and then, "if pos-
sible," move on to take Port Moresby.
Operations to seize air bases in the Solo-
mons and capture Tulagi, just north of
Guadalcanal, were authorized at the same

"Japanese Opns in SWPA, SWPA Series II, ch. V,
pp. 6—7; Hist of Army Sec, Imperial GHQ, Japanese
Studies in World War II, 72, pp. 33—34; Lt Gen Seizo
Arisue, formerly intelligence chief of the General
Staff, reply to author's questions, 14 Jul 4g, ATIS
Doc No. 49157, p. 27, copy in OCMH.

■"Statement of Rear Adm Tadaichi Hara, cited in
Samuel Eliot Morison, Coral Sea, Midway and Sub-
marine Actions, May 1942 — August 1942, vol. IV,
"History of United States Naval Operations in World
War II" (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1949),
p. 4; Japanese Opns in SWPA, ch. V pp. io_n; Arisue
Questionnaire, pp. 28-39; Interrog of Lt Gen Shini-
chi Tanaka, 25 Oct 47, copy in OCMH; Statements
of Rear Adm Sadatoshi Tomioka, Navy Sec, Imperial
GHQ, 2 Aug 50, ATIS Doc 61232; Col Takushiro
Hattori, Army Sec, Imperial GHQ, 29 Aug 49, ATIS
Doc 50307, both in Statements of Japanese Officials,
IV, 314 and I, 331, copy in OCMH.

"Arisue Questionnaire, p. 29.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

215

time but would be carried out by naval
forces alone. 45

Plans for the invasion of Lae and Sala-
maua, like those for the Bismarck area,
were made by General Horii, com-
mander of the South Seas Detachment,
and Admiral Inouye, 4 th Fleet com-
mander. With a full knowledge of the
weakness of the Australian garrisons in
New Guinea, the two commanders as-
signed only small forces to the operation.
Salamaua was to be taken by one battal-
ion of Horii's detachment, supported by
an artillery battery and other smaller
units; Lae by a naval landing force of
battalion size. Naval escort and support,
including four heavy and two light cruis-
ers, would be provided by Inouye's 4 th
Fleet, and air cover by the 4th Air Group
based at Rabaul. These plans were com-
pleted on 16 February, with the landing
scheduled for the end of the month. 4e

The concentration of Japanese forces
at Rabaul had not gone unnoticed and
Admiral Nimitz had sent the carrier
Lexington into the area. With Admiral
Leary's B— i7's at Townsville, this car-
rier force was to meet the enemy and,
if possible, destroy it. On 20 February
the Lexington, accompanied by four
heavy cruisers and ten destroyers, reached
a point about 350 miles south of Rabaul
where it was detected and attacked by
Japanese aircraft. The battle that fol-
lowed was inconclusive. The American
carrier force drove off the Japanese
planes, but abandoned any further effort
against Rabaul because all chance of sur-

prising the Japanese had been lost and
the ships were running short of fuel.
Two days later the ANZAC B-17's made
their first attack on Rabaul. 47

These raids, while they did not alter
the Japanese plan, did postpone its exe-
cution. Finally, on 5 March, all was in
readiness and the invasion force sortied
from Rabaul harbor to reach Huon Gulf
two days later. There it split, one group
heading for Lae, the other for Salamaua.
Early next morning, 8 March, the troops
went ashore, covered by aircraft from
Rabaul and Gasmata which had been
bombing the target area as well as Port
Moresby since the 2d. There was no
opposition at the beaches or in the
towns, and during the next two days
the Japanese unloaded their supplies and
began to build the bases. Thus, at al-
most no cost, the Japanese acquired
control of the straits between northeast
New Guinea and New Britain and posi-
tions from which they could support a
further advance southward and prevent
the Allies from breaking out into the
open seas north of the Bismarck
Archipelago. 48

The absence of opposition did not
mean the Allies would take this fresh
assault without reprisal. Since the in-
conclusive raid of the Lexington on 20
February, Admiral Nimitz had assem-
bled another force, almost double that
of the first, in an effort to halt the Japa-
nese advance into Australia's Northeast

m Navy Sec, Imperial GHQ, Directive No. 47, 29
Jan 42. The order is quoted in Japanese Opns in
SWPA, ch. V, pp. 7-8.

"Southeast Area Naval Opns, Japanese Studies in
World War II, 48, pp. 19—20; Japanese Opns in
SWPA , ch. V, pp. 8-9; Milner, Victory in Papua,
ch.I.

"Early raids in the Pacific Ocean, 1 Feb— 10 Mar
42, Combat Narrative, ONI, pp. 35-40. See General
Marshall's warning of probable enemy carrier opera-
tions northeast of Australia in his letter to Barnes,
undated, but written early in February, WPD

4<53°-57-

"Japanese Opns in SWPA, ch. V, p. 9; Hist of

South Seas Detachment, Japanese Studies in World

War II, 36, I, 10— 1 1; Naval Invasion of Eastern New

Guinea, Japanese Studies in World War II, 101.

216

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Area. This time he used two carriers,
the Lexington and the Yorktown, sup-
ported by more cruisers and destroyers
plus elements of the ANZAC force.
These vessels sortied northward toward
Rabaul early in March, too late to inter-
cept the convoys headed for Lae and
Salamaua. But they were not too late
to do damage, and on 10 March, from
positions in the Gulf of Papua, the car-
riers sent their planes aloft toward Huon
Gulf. The strike apparently came as a
complete surprise to the Japanese, who
lost four vessels sunk, three more dam-
aged, and almost 400 men killed and
wounded. Next day the B-i^'s from
Townsville came over Lae and Salamaua,
but with less effect. That attack marked
the last serious effort made during this
period against the Japanese, who by this
time had brought aircraft into the area
and declared it secure. They were now
within 170 air miles of Port Moresby. 49
Operations against Port Moresby and
Tulagi, which the Japanese intended to
use as air bases, were to have begun im-
mediately after the capture of Lae and
Salamaua, according to the 29 January
directive from Imperial General Head-
quarters. But by the time those bases
had been taken more than a month later,
Admiral Inouye had revised his view of
the seriousness of the next step. His
original plan had been based on the
assumption that the Allies would be un-
able to bring air power to the target and
that therefore he would need only the
long-range planes from Rabaul as sup-
port. In view of what had happened
since 20 February, and the growing

strength of Allied air power in Australia,
that assumption was no longer valid.
The seizure of Port Moresby and Tulagi
would be far riskier than anticipated,
Inouye concluded, and would require
carrier support. But the carriers that he
needed were no longer available, for the
striking force of the Combined Fleet
with five carriers and four battleships
was making ready for a raid against Cey-
lon, scheduled for early April. Admiral
Inouye had no choice, therefore, but to
await the return of the fleet from the
Indian Ocean. In the interim he con-
solidated his position in the Bismarck
Archipelago and advanced into the
northern Solomons — to the Shortland
Islands and Bougainville. 50

Meanwhile in Tokyo the question of
an invasion of Australia had come up
again. The Navy pushed more vigor-
ously for its plan this time, arguing that
the U. S, Fleet would be unable to take
offensive action in the western Pacific
until the end of 1942. In the meantime,
the naval planners warned, the Allies
were pouring airplanes, men, and sup-
plies into Australia and converting it
into a base for offensive operations. The
Army's desire to consolidate along the
original perimeter and concentrate on
the war in China and preparations for a
possible attack by Soviet Russia, the
naval planners argued, constituted a de-
fensive and negative policy. "Such a
policy," asserted Yamamoto's chief of
staff, "would in effect render futile all
our military successes" and put Japan
"in the position of waiting for her ene-
mies to attack without any special ad-

"Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 387;
Early Raids in the Pacific, ONI Combat Narrative,
pp. 57-68; Hist of South Seas Detachment, Japanese
Studies in World War II, 36, I, 11-12.

"Japanese Opns in SWPA, ch. V, p. 10; Southeast
Area Naval Opns, Japanese Studies in World War II,
48, I, pp. i-a; Hist of South Seas Detachment, Japa-
nese Studies in World War II, 36, p. 8.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

217

vantage to herself. . . ." 51 The wisest
course, therefore, was to continue on the
offensive, with Australia as the ultimate
objective.

The Army remained adamant in its
opposition to this plan. Its original con-
ception of operations in the Southwest
Pacific had been defensive and the
Navy's proposal for an aggressive policy
in that area was alarming. Army forces,
already widely scattered throughout the
Netherlands Indies, Malaya, Burma, In-
dochina, the Philippines, and elsewhere,
would have to be spread dangerously
thin if Japan embarked on new and cost-
ly adventures. Moreover, the fear of
Russia, which had dictated the time of
attack and the speed of the advance, had
not abated and the Army was anxious to
adhere to the original plan to deploy its
forces to the north. All these considera-
tions, plus the size of the force required
and the difficulties of supplying and
maintaining this force, convinced the
Army that the invasion of Australia was
a "ridiculous operation." 62

The outcome of this debate, which
lasted through March and April, was a
compromise plan, approved on 28 April,
to cut the line of communications and
isolate Australia. Under this plan, the
long-deferred Port Moresby and Tulagi
operation would be speedily concluded
and would be followed by the occupa-
tion of important points in New Cale-
donia, the Fijis, and Samoa. From these
newly acquired bases, Japanese aircraft
and submarines could interrupt if not
cut off entirely the flow of weapons, men,

51 Private Papers of Rear Adm Mutome Ugaki,
quoted in Japanese Opns in SWPA, ch. V, p. 1 1 , n. 30;
Hist of Army Sec, Imperial GHQ, Japanese Studies in
World War II, 72, pp. 45—50.

"Hist of Army Sec, Imperial GHQ, p. 50; Japanese
Opns in the SWPA, ch. V, pp. 11-13.

and supplies to Australia and prevent
the development on that continent of a
base for an Allied counteroffensive. Ob-
viously this was a compromise which
favored the Navy point of view. 53

Preparations for the Tulagi and Port
Moresby invasions were already com-
plete when Imperial General Headquar-
ters issued its new plan on 28 April. The
South Seas Detachment and the naval
landing troops of the 4 th Fleet were
standing by, ready to embark; three days
earlier Rabaul-based bombers had be-
gun to strike northeast Australia. D-day
for Tulagi was set for 3 May; for Port
Moresby, a week later. On 29, April the
5th Carrier Division (two carriers) and
the 5th Cruiser Division reached Truk.
At long last, Admiral Inouye could begin
the Port Moresby operation.

On 4 May, the day after Inouye moved
his headquarters from Truk to Rabaul
and a naval force landed at Tulagi, the
Port Moresby invasion force set sail. Al-
ready the joint staff in Tokyo was mak-
ing plans for the invasion of New
Caledonia, the Fijis, and Samoa.

Pacific Build-up

At the same time the Japanese were
heatedly debating their future course,
the American planners in Washington
were reviewing the twin problems of
strategy and deployment in the Pacific
in the light of the decision to make the
main effort against Germany. Despite
every effort to halt the movement of
troops, planes, and weapons to the Paci-
fic and every argument that these move-
ments and the precious shipping they

"Hist of Army Sec, Imperial GHQ, pp. 50—51;
Arisue Questionnaire, pp. 28-29; Deposition of
Shinichi Tanaka, IMTFE Exhibit 2676.

218

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

consumed were in violation of the ac-
cepted strategy, this flow continued and
even increased. And with each shipment
of troops came increased demands for
additional troops, for more planes, and
for supplies.

No one could deny the necessity that
created these demands. The Japanese
were not pursuing a plan that fitted into
the Allied blueprint, and it was the
Japanese advance, not Allied strategy,
which dictated what must be done. But
the mounting drain of the Pacific war
on the limited resources of the Allies
could, by the end of February, no longer
be ignored. "Through a combination of
circumstances," observed General Eisen-
hower, the Chief of the War Plans
Division, "we are being drawn into a
deployment in the Southwest Pacific that
far exceeds original planning objectives
and which in the absence of powerful air
and naval forces ... is not warranted." 54

The immediate occasion for a review
of the entire problem by the staff in
Washington was the demand from almost
every quarter for planes and more planes.
Aircraft, especially heavy bombers, were,
after shipping, perhaps the most critical
of the Allied resources. The Australians
wanted about stoo P— 40's to meet the
threat to Port Moresby; the New Zea-
landers asked for bombers for the pro-
tection of the Fijis; Admiral Leary
needed a squadron of B-17's for his
ANZAC force; and the Dutch, who were
making ready for a last-ditch defense of
Java, pressed hard for 72 fighters. 85

In addition to these requests, there
were other demands to be met by the
Army. Its obligation in Hawaii had not
been fulfilled, and there was from Ad-
miral King a request that the Army fur-
nish garrisons for two more islands in
the South Pacific — Tongatabu in the
Tonga Group, southeast of the Fijis, and
Efate in the New Hebrides, between
New Caledonia and the Solomons. The
first would provide protection for the
southern route from Samoa to Australia,
the second an outpost for the defense of
New Caledonia and the Fijis. "The
Navy," complained General Eisenhower,
"wants to take all the islands in the Pa-
cific — have them held by Army troops,
to become bases for Army pursuit and
bombers. Then! the Navy will have a
safe place to sail its vessels." 56

Eisenhower's comment was indicative
of a difference in view between the Army
and Navy over the importance of the
Pacific and the priority it should enjoy
in the constant struggle for men and ma-
teriel. The Army planners recognized
fully the importance of Australia and
the line of communications but consid-
ered their retention as desirable rather
than vital operations. Their support
should be accomplished, they believed,
with a minimum of effort, and priority
should go to Europe to make possible an
early offensive against Germany. "We've
got to go to Europe and fight," wrote
Eisenhower, "we've got to quit wasting
resources all over the world — and still
worse — wasting time." 57

For the Navy, with its traditional in-

"Memo, Eisenhower for Marshall, 28 Feb 4s, sub:
Strategic Conceptions, OPD 384 PTO sec. 1, case 11.

""The material in this section is treated fully in
Hayes. The War Against Japan, ch. V, pp. 1^8;
Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, 1941-^/2, pp.
156-64, sio-16, 221-27.

"Eisenhower Notations, 17 Feb 42, copy in OCMH;
Memo, King, no addressee, 18 Feb 42, noted in Memo,
Marshall for King, 24 Feb 42, sub: Garrison for Efate,
OPD Exec Files.

"Eisenhower Notations, 22 Jan 42, copy in OCMH.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

219

terest in the Pacific, that area held a
greater importance than for the Army
and its reinforcement had first priority.
The safety of the line of communica-
tions was essential to the fleet and until
the Japanese threat to the islands along
that line had been met — and for the
Navy this threat was still a very live one
— the naval planners considered the
Allied position in the Pacific precarious.
They did not wish to abandon the efforts
to launch an early offensive in Europe,
but felt strongly that until the danger
was over the Pacific should have first call
on American resources. There were ex-
tremists on both sides, too, some who
were willing to risk the loss of the South-
west Pacific for the advantage of an early
offensive against Germany, and others
who would concentrate entirely on the
Pacific, even if it meant the abandon-
ment, for the time being, of the Atlantic
theater. 58

Despite this difference, Admiral King
finally secured the garrisons he wanted
for Efate and Tongatabu. For the former
the Army furnished a reinforced infantry
regiment, the 24th, numbering about
5,000 men, and the Navy the aircraft and
artillery (both Marine) . This force ar-
rived early in May to relieve the small
detachment Patch had sent up from New
Caledonia to guard this important out-
post. Later, a portion of the Efate gar-
rison moved up to Espiritu Santo to
build a bomber strip there. The Tonga-
tabu garrison, composed of an infantry
regiment (less one battalion) , a regi-
ment of antiaircraft artillery, and a pur-
suit squadron, plus a naval contingent,
amounted to 8,200 men. It reached its
destination on 14 May and began work

"For these views and others, see the JPS 2 series,
ABC 370 fi-28-42).-

immediately to construct a naval base
and airfield. Like the Bora Bora force,
which it greatly resembled, it was assem-
bled and loaded in haste and paid the
penalty in the difficulties it met when it
began to debark. 59

Meanwhile the review of strategy and
deployment, which had begun on 11
February with a directive from the Com-
bined Chiefs, had almost run its course.
The results were far from conclusive.
About all the planners could agree on
after a month of intensive study was a
recommendation that the Joint Chiefs
decide immediately "on a clear course of
action," and then follow that course
"with the utmost vigor." They did,
however, suggest three possibilities, each
representing substantially a view held at
the outset of the debate, for the Joint
Chiefs to choose from, thus leaving to
their superiors the decision they were
themselves unable to make. The Chiefs
made their choice two days later, on 16
March. The United States, they then
agreed, should assemble in the United
Kingdom the forces needed for an of-
fensive "at the earliest practicable time,"
and provide for the Pacific only those
forces allocated under "current commit-
ments." This meant, in effect, that the
Joint Chiefs would thereafter test the de-
mands from the Pacific against the needs
of the European theater and the priority
of operations there.*

"Memos, Marshall for King, 24 Feb 42, sub: Gar-
risons for Efate; King for JCS, 2 Mar 42, sub: Defense
of Tongatabu and Efate, ABC 381 (3-2^2)-

"JPS 2/1 Directive to JUSSC, 1 1 Feb 42; Mins, CCS
Mtg, 10 Feb 42; JPS 2/2, Review of Strategic Situa-
tion in Japanese Theater, 18 Feb 42, with minority
report JPS 2/2 (A); Mins, JPS Mtgs, 19, 21, 24 Feb 42;
JPS 2/4 (D) Strategic Deployment, 24 Feb 42; JPS 2/5
and 2/6, same title, 6 Mar 42; JCS 23, same title, 14
Mar 4s; Mins, JCS Mtg, 16 Mar 42. All in ABC 370
(1-28-42) and CCS 281 (1-30-42).

220

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

This policy had hardly been formu-
lated when it became necessary to depart
from it. On 5 March, when the situation
in the Middle East appeared critical,
Winston Churchill had asked Roosevelt
if the United States would, among other
things, send a division to Australia and
one to New Zealand. In this way he
hoped to retain in the Middle East those
troops the Dominions wanted brought
home for their own protection. After
consulting his military advisers, Roose-
velt agreed to the Prime Minister's pro-
posal, subject to approval by the
Australian and New Zealand Govern-
ments. The Australians, who had cor-
rectly diagnosed the Japanese plan to
take Port Moresby and cut the line of
communications, accepted this arrange-
ment as a temporary solution to their
difficulties. The War Department there-
upon selected the 3 2d Division, already
alerted for shipment to Ireland, for as-
signment to Australia. It would arrive
in May, and, with the 41st, scheduled to
leave within the month, would place
two American divisions in the Southwest
Pacific. 61

For New Zealand the Army planners
picked the 37 th Division (Ohio National
Guard) . Already that division's 147th
Infantry Regiment (less one battalion)
had been sent to Tongatabu, and in mid-
April an advance detachment of eighty
men left for New Zealand. The division
itself was scheduled to sail late the next
month. But before it left the President
precipitated another comprehensive re-
view of deployment to the Pacific by

raising the question early in April of the
defenses of Fiji and New Caledonia, a
review that led to a change in the
destination of the 37th Division.

The discussions that followed the
President's query made it clear that the
differences which had split the planners
before were still unresolved. The Navy,
with a clear appreciation of Japanese
intentions, persisted in its belief that
the strength allocated to the Pacific,
especially in aircraft, was inadequate to
meet the danger there. The Army took
a more optimistic view. While admitting
the inadequacy of Allied air defenses in
the Pacific, the Army planners asserted
— at a time when the enemy was prepar-
ing to move to Port Moresby, Tulagi,
New Caledonia, the Fijis, and Midway
— that the danger in the Pacific was not
great enough to warrant the diversion of
aircraft from the planned major effort in
Europe. Failure to reinforce the Pacific,
Army planners admitted, involved risks,
but such risks, they insisted, must be
taken in order to move against Germany.

To these differing views were now
added those of General MacArthur, re-
cently arrived in Australia, reinforced by
the representations of the Dominion
governments. The second front, Mac-
Arthur held, should be in the Pacific.
Not only would an offensive there aid
Russia by releasing the forces held down
in Manchuria, he argued, but it would
also protect Australia and India and
have the enthusiastic support of the
American people. 62 This proposal and

''Memo, WPD for CofS, 5 Mar 42, sub: Answer to
Prime Minister, OPD Exec Files; CCS 56 and 56/1,
Prime Minister Msg, 5 and 6 Mar 42, ABC 311.5
(1-30-42); Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 739,
18 Mar 42, OPD MacArthur File.

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 176, 8 May 42,
CM-IN 2333; Memo, Capt John L. McCrea, naval
aide to President, to JCS, 2 Apr 42, with JPS 21 ser.,
ABC 381 (1-22-42) Pacific Bases. The views of the
Army and Navy planners can be found in the same
file. Mins, JPS Mtgs, 4 and 6 Apr 42.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

221

others like it all added up to a strong
plea for priority in the Pacific.

The month-long debate that ensued
raised sharply the entire question of
strategy in the Pacific and its relation to
the war against Germany. On the assump-
tion that Japanese forces were capable
of attacking the line of communications
and that their next move would be in
that direction, the Navy wished to
strengthen each of the bases along that
line with bombers and fighters. Mobile
forces in Hawaii and Australia, the naval
planners believed, would be unable to
concentrate at the point of attack in time
to prevent an enemy landing. The Navy
had another reason for wanting to build
up the forces along the line of commu-
nications. Already it was planning to
use these islands as bases for offensive
operations and for the support of the
fleet. "Given the naval forces, air units
and amphibious forces," Admiral King
told the President, "we can drive north-
westward from the New Hebrides into
the Solomons and the Bismarck Archi-
pelago after the same fashion of step by
step advances that the Japanese used in
the South China Sea." 63

The position taken by the Army and
Air Force planners was that the area
should be defended by mobile forces,
with bombers based on the flanks, in
Australia and Hawaii. There would thus
be no necessity to pin down large forces
on each of the islands. The line of com-
munications, it was true, lacked defense
in depth but that was preferable, the
Army planners believed, to scattering the
bombers needed for the projected air
offensive against Germany. 84

"Memo, King for President, 5 Mar 4s, no sub, OPD
Exec Files.

M JPS 2i /7, Defense of Island Bases, 18 Apr 42, and

MacArthur went even further than the
Navy in his demands on Allied resources.
Not only did he want reinforcements to
hold his present position and a 100 per-
cent increase in aircraft but also the
forces required to conduct operations
northward from Australia — three more
divisions and aircraft carriers. In Wash-
ington there was no intention of under-
taking the kind of campaign MacArthur
contemplated, which consisted esentially
of an active and aggressive defense from
Port Moresby rather than Australia it-
self. His requests, therefore, were po-
litely but firmly denied. But MacArthur
was not one to accept defeat easily and
with Prime Minister Curtin's support
continued to press for reinforcements
through other channels. Though this
procedure brought him a reprimand —
which the President softened by a gra-
cious letter — it also brought the prob-
lem forcibly to the attention of the
highest authority. 65

Plans for war against Germany had by
early May created heavy requirements
for men and materiel in the European
theater that threatened to put a strong
brake on Pacific deployment. In mid-
April at a conference in London between
American and British representatives, it
had been agreed, largely at American
insistence, that the Allies would begin
planning immediately for an invasion of
the Continent in 1943 (Roundup) . It
was recognized, however, that action
against Germany might have to be under-
attached OPD Notes on JPS 13th Mtg, 22 Apr 42,
ABC (1—22-42 sec. 2) Pacific Bases.

"Rads, Marshall to MacArthur, Nos. 739 and 1499,
18 Mar and 26 Apr 42, OPD MacArthur File; Mac-
Arthur to Marshall, Nos. 70470 and 588, 4 and 25 Apr
and 1 May 42, CM-IN-6643 and 0186; Marshall to
MacArthur, No. 31, 6 May 42, CM-OUT— 1136; Mac-
Arthur to Marshall, No. 176, 8 May 42, CM-IN-2333.

222

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

taken earlier in the event of disastrous
Soviet reverses or some unexpected favor-
able development that would present the
Allies with an opportunity to exploit a
weakness in the German position. To
meet such a possibility, the Allies agreed
on a contingency operation for the in-
vasion of the Continent in the fall of

1942 (Sledgehammer), by which time
Pacific deployment would be largely
completed. Forces for the invasion in

1943 would be assembled in the British
Isles on a schedule, worked out in great
detail after the London Conference, that
would place sufficient forces in Britain
in time to meet the requirements of an
emergency operation in the fall of 1942
should that prove necessary or desirable.
This build-up in the British Isles, which
was known by the code name Bolero,
became the basis for the planned
deployment of forces to Europe. 66

The competing demands of Europe
and the Pacific came into sharp conflict
early in May, after the President had
expressed a desire, presumably in re-
sponse to pressure from the Australian
Prime Minister, to raise the number of
ground troops planned for Australia
from 25,000 to ioo,ooo. 67 This proposal
created serious concern among the Army
planners, and General Marshall, imme-
diately on his return from a tour of
inspection, protested directly to the
President, pointing out that this diver-
sion from Bolero would imperil the
plans so recently made for the invasion

of the Continent. 68 On 4 May, the entire
problem was discussed at a meeting of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Mar-
shall held firmly to the position already
stated by the Army planners that any
increase in the forces already allotted to
the Pacific would make Bolero impos-
sible. The Joint Chiefs, he asserted, must
therefore stoutly resist all demands from
that theater, no matter how legitimate.
Admiral King argued strongly against
this view. Without denying the desira-
bility of an early offensive in Europe, he
insisted that the reinforcement of the
Pacific was fully as important as Bolero,
and more urgent. "We must not permit
diversion of our forces to any proposed
operation in any other theater," he
argued, "to the extent that we find our-
selves unable to fulfill our obligation to
implement our basic strategic plan in the
Pacific theater." This strategy he stated
simply as holding "what we have against
any attack" the Japanese could launch. 89
The implications of such a strategy were
clear.

Unable to reach agreement, the Joint
Chiefs could only refer the matter to the
President himself for decision, and on 6
May General Marshall, after outlining
his own and King's position, asked the
Commander in Chief in effect to make
the choice. The answer came two days
later: "I do not want 'Bolero' slowed
down." 70 The issue had finally been
decided in favor of the Army.

"For a full discussion of the London Conference
and the planning that followed, see Matloff and Snell,
Strategic Planning, 1941-42, pp. 183-91, passim, and
Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and Strategy,

ch. xrv.

"Memo, McCrea for JCS, 1 May 42, sub: Aircraft
and Troops for Australia, OPD Exec Files.

" Memo, CofS for President, 4 May 42, no sub, OPD
Exec Files.

"Memo, King for JCS, 4 May 4s, sub: Defense of
Island Bases, JCS 48, app, to JCS Mins of that date.

"Memo, President for Marshall, 6 May 42, no sub;
CofS for President, same date, sub: Pacific Theater vs
Bolero, JCS 48, ABC 381 {i-sa— 42) sec. 2 Pacific
Bases.

AUSTRALIA AND THE LINE OF COMMUNICATION

223

Though the President's decision meant
that the Navy and General MacArthur
would have to shelve, temporarily at
least, their plans for offensive operations
and a strong defense in depth, it did not
halt the movement of troops and planes
to the Pacific. Rather, it speeded up
these movements, for the Army, having
won the victory, was anxious to meet its
commitments promptly. "Since we have
won our point," Eisenhower wrote Gen-
eral Arnold on 8 May, "it is my opinion
we should reach and maintain the
amounts indicated ... as quickly as pos-
sible." Arnold agreed and listed the num-
ber of planes he expected to have in the
Pacific by 1 July. 71

This determination to bring the forces
in the Pacific to their authorized strength
did not solve all the problems that had
been raised during the course of the
debate. One of these was the defense of
the Fijis, then garrisoned by New Zea-
land troops and an American pursuit
squadron. It was General Marshall who
proposed a solution which would meet
the need for stronger forces in the Fijis
without requiring additional troops. The
37th Division, which had been promised
to New Zealand in return for the reten-
tion of the Dominion's troops in the
Middle East, could be sent instead to the
Fijis, Marshall suggested, thus releasing
almost 10,000 New Zealand troops for
the defense of the Dominion. Admiral
King raised no objections to this pro-
posal and it was quickly adopted by the
Joint Chiefs and approved by the Presi-
dent. The New Zealand Government
accepted this arrangement, too, in re-
turn for an agreement that the United

States would assume strategic responsi-
bility for the defense of the Fijis. Orders
for the 37 th Division were hurriedly
changed, and early in June the first de-
tachment landed at Suva. Since it had
proved impossible to collect in so short
a time the additional troops required
for a balanced garrison force, the rest of
the 37th went on to New Zealand where
an Army port detachment had already
gone to handle its debarkation. 72

New Zealand's demands had been sat-
isfied without altering the basic strategy
but there was no way of meeting the
demands from Australia without aban-
doning or delaying Bolero. All of Mr.
Curtin's appeals to Washington and Lon-
don, and MacArthur's requests to the
War Department came up against the
hard fact that the planners did not be-
lieve Australia was in imminent danger
of invasion or that the time had come
for offensive operations in that theater.
The best that Churchill and Roosevelt
could offer was admiration for the ag-
gressive spirit which prompted the re-
quests for troops and assurances of
support if a real threat developed. Mean-
while, the President told MacArthur,
every effort would be made to send him
"all the air strength we possibly can."
To do more, as Marshall had pointed
out, would make the Southwest Pacific
the principal theater of operations. Mac-
Arthur would have to do with what he
had, at least for the present. 73

Though the President's decision of 8

"Memos, Eisenhower foT Arnold, 8 May 42, no sub,
OPD 381 case 6a; Arnold for Eisenhower, 14 May 42,
no sub, OPD 381 PTO, case 21.

"Mins, JCS Mtg, 4 May 42; Joint Army-Navy Plan
for Fijis, 13 May 42; Memo, COMINCH for N. Z.
Minister, 9 May 42, same sub, both in OPD 381 Fiji.
See also Leigh ton and Coakley, Global Logistics and
Strategy, p. 178.

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, 3 May 42, CM-IN-
0667; Ltr, M arshall to Pill, 22 May 42. O PD Exec
Files; Milner, Victory in Papua, pp. 29-32.

224

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Table 4 — Army Strength in Pacific, April

1942"

Present

En Route

Projected

Base

Ground

Air

Ground

Air

Ground

Air

Totals -- -

102,920

29,760

37,700

231,060

44,140

Hawaii

62,700

1,700

3,850

1,300

16,900

16,000

450

8,900
320

7,300

100,000

1,700

3,850

1,300

15,000

60,000

23,000

6,300

15,000

4,900

15,000

490

Bora Bora

Canton _-

700

17,100

2,000

700

Fijis

720

Australia

30,400

24,000

New Caledonia

2,500

Suva

720

Tongatabu

660

New Zealand

Efate ..-

°Excludes strength in Philippines where forces surrendered in May 1942.
Source: Adapted from Chart 2, Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning 1941- 42.

May, made two days after the Port
Moresby invasion force had left Rabaul,
had eased temporarily the heavy drain
of the Pacific on Allied resources, it was,
in a sense, a tribute to the enormous
progress made by the Army and Navy
under the most adverse conditions in
building up the defenses of the Pacific in
the short period of five months. At the
start of the war, the United States had in
the Pacific only two garrisons of any
size, Hawaii and the Philippines. By the
beginning of May, despite defeat and
disaster and the decision to concentrate
on the war in Europe, Hawaii had been
considerably reinforced, the defenses of
Australia and New Zealand bolstered
with American ground troops and air-
craft, and a chain of island bases estab-
lished along the line of communications.
In the area, or scheduled soon to arrive,
were over 250,000 Army ground and air

troops (exclusive of the Philippine gar-
rison) . Ground forces included six di-
visions and Task Force 6184, soon to be
organized into the Americal Division,
the equivalent of almost three separate
infantry regiments, a large number of
coast and antiaircraft artillery units, and
service troops of all types. (Table 4)
Each of the island bases had at least one
pursuit squadron, but most of the air as
well as the ground strength in the Pacific
was concentrated in Australia and Ha-
waii. The former had 41 heavy bombers,
150 light and medium bombers, and
about 475 fighters; the latter about 30
heavy bombers and considerably fewer
aircraft of other types. Both were still
short of the authorized goals, especially
in heavy bombers. This weakness con-
stituted the main complaint of the Navy
and was to be one of the chief problems
in the Pacific in the months to come.

CHAPTER X

The U.S. and Japanese High Commands

An army is of little value in the field unless there are wise counsels at
home. Cicero

During the early months of the war,
while the Japanese tide of victory was
flowing strong, the Allies had already
begun to look to the future. Though the
effort to defend the Malay Barrier had
failed, the Allies had hurriedly sent re-
inforcements to hold Australia, Hawaii,
and the island chain across the Pacific.
Already, plans were maturing to build
a base in Australia and to develop air
and naval bases along the line of com-
munications. It was still too early to
predict the course of operations once the
Allies were in a position to take the ini-
tiative, but it was not too soon to prepare
for that time. Thus, while bases were
being established and forces deployed to
the Pacific, the Allies began to organize
for the offensive ahead.

The first step in preparing for an
offensive was to develop an Allied organ-
ization to co-ordinate the efforts of the
Allies, and within this framework to
devise a mechanism for planning and co-
ordinating operations on many fronts.
In this the British had the advantage of
an early start, and a combined staff was
quickly formed. The American counter-
part of this organization, the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, took shape more slowly. Utiliz-
ing existing organizations and staffs, the
Americans developed during the months

after Pearl Harbor a mechanism for di-
recting the U.S. war effort that lasted,
with modifications, until the end of the
war. For the Pacific, which was to be-
come an area of U.S. responsibility, this
Washington organization became in effect
a supreme command.

The organization of the Japanese mili-
tary high command, perfected before the
war, was, on the surface, not unlike that
of the United States. The commander in
chief of the Japanese armed forces was
the head of the state, the Emperor.
Under him was Imperial General Head-
quarters with its Army and Navy Sec-
tions — there was no separate air service
— which prepared and co-ordinated the
operations of forces in the field. The
Army and Navy Ministers sat in the
Cabinet and civilian agencies directed
the war effort on the home front. But
this organization, superficially so similar
to the American, could not conceal the
fact that Japan was a military dictator-
ship in which the civilian officials exer-
cised little real authority and the
Emperor was but a symbol.

The Washington Command Post

At the Arcadia Conference in Wash-
ington, it will be recalled, the first steps

226

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

had been taken toward establishment of
a combined U.S.— British organization
for the conduct of the war. 1 It had been
decided then that the Combined Chiefs
of Staff would be located in Washington,
where the British Chiefs would be repre-
sented by a Joint Staff Mission. During
the months that followed the combined
organization began to take shape and the
functions of the Combined Chiefs were
more clearly delineated. By the early
summer of ig42 this process was largely
completed.

The American side of the Allied high
command developed more slowly. The
old Joint Board with its Joint Planning
Committee had neither the authority
nor the organization to meet the chal-
lenges of global war (or of the British
committee system) , and it gave way
gradually to the emergent Joint Chiefs
of Staff. Membership in the two bodies,
though similar, was not identical. The
former had consisted of the service chiefs,
their deputies, and the heads of the War
Plans Division and air arms of the two
services. Since December 1941, Admiral
King as commander of the U.S. Fleet,
though not a member, had also sat with
the Joint Board, whose presiding officer
at the time was the Chief of Naval Op-
erations, Admiral Stark. During the
Arcadia meeting the term U.S. Chiefs
of Staff, employed to designate a group
comparable to the British Chiefs, had
referred to four men — Admiral Stark,
General Marshall, Admiral King, and
General Arnold. The last two were not
chiefs of a service and one of them was not
even a member of the Joint Board, but
their inclusion was considered necessary
to balance the British representation.

Within the next few months, the
membership of the Joint Chiefs, which
was established on 9 February, was re-
examined and took final form. General
Marshall's position was not affected,
except that as a result of the reorganiza-
tion of the War Department in March
1942 his authority as Chief of Staff, U.S.
Army, was enhanced. General Arnold's
position as commander of the newly
formed semiautonomous Army Air
Forces also increased his stature in the
Joint Chiefs, although he remained Mar-
shall's subordinate and thus not in the
same position in combined councils as
the British air chief who was head of a
separate service.

The Navy also underwent reorganiza-
tion in March designed to streamline it
for the war ahead. One of the effects of
this reorganization was to consolidate the
functions of the Chief of Naval Opera-
tions and Commander in Chief, United
States Fleet, and at Admiral Stark's
behest Admiral King was placed in
supreme command of all professional
activities of the Navy. 2 This change was
formally recognized in an Executive
Order of 12 March which assigned King
to both commands, designated him as
the principal naval adviser to the Presi-
dent, and gave him a greater degree of
control, over the bureaus than had ever
been exercised by any Chief of Naval
Operations. 3 In addition, he was given
two strong assistants, a Vice Chief of
Naval Operations, and a Deputy
Commander for the U.S. Fleet.

The effects of these moves, though

'See above, pp. 164—66.

•Davis, Origins of JCS and CCS, I, 350-51.

•Admiral Stark was relieved as Chief of Naval Op-
erations on a6 March 1942 and appointed Com-
mander, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe.

THE U.S. AND JAPANESE HIGH COMMANDS

227

they greatly increased the authority of
the Chiefs within their services, was to
reduce the membership of the Joint
Chiefs by one. But already a move was
under way to add another, one who
would represent the President much as
Maj. Gen. Sir Hastings Ismay represented
Churchill on the British Chiefs, and
because he represented no service, could
serve as an impartial chairman. The
President, at first cool to the idea, was
finally convinced of the advantages of
such an arrangement and on Marshall's
suggestion designated Admiral William
D. Leahy as his own chief of staff. 4 No
appointment could have been better cal-
culated to add weight to the Joint Chiefs
and to cement relations with the White
House. Admiral Leahy, after serving as
Chief of Naval Operations, had retired
from the Navy in August 1939. Since
then he had served as Governor of
Puerto Rico and Ambassador to the
French Government at Vichy. In June
1942, he returned to the United States,
and on 18 July was recalled to active
duty and designated Chief of Staff to the
Commander in Chief — a post without
precedent in American history. With
this appointment, the membership of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff was fixed for the
duration of the war.

The charter of the Combined Chiefs
approved at Arcadia had specifically pro-
vided for a planning staff, the Combined
Staff Planners, and had even named the
officers who would compose that body. 5

4 For an account of this appointment, see Davis,
Origins of JCS and CCS, pp. 378-85; William D.
Leahy, / Was There (New York: Whittlesey House,
1950), pp. 96-97; Ltr, Secy of War to President, 20
Mar42,WDCSAo33.

*U.S. ABC-4/CS4, 14 Jan 42, sub: PosI-Arcadia
Collaboration. This description of the joint organ-

The senior members on the American
side, the Joint Staff Planners (J PS) ,
were Brig. Gen. Leonard T. Gerow and
Rear Adm. Richmond K. Turner, Chiefs
of the Army and Navy War Plans Divi-
sion — both members of the Joint Board
and, simultaneously, of that agency's
Joint Planning Committee. In this latter
capacity, they directed the work of the
Joint Strategic Committee, composed of
at least three officers from each of the
War Plans Divisions, whose task it was
to work on joint war plans, and of vari-
ous ad hoc committees formed to study
other problems as they arose. It was nat-
ural that this organization should be
taken over bodily by the Joint Chiefs,
and for a time it served both bodies
equally.

This system had its disadvantages, and
membership of the Joint Staff Planners
was soon changed. The Navy kept its
chief planner, Admiral Turner, on the
committee, but gave him two assistants,
one of them an air officer. Probably
because of the heavier burdens of the
Chief of the Army's War Plans Division,
Gerow's successor, General Eisenhower,
designated the head of the division's
Strategy and Policy Group, Col. Thomas
T. Handy, as the Army member of the
Joint Staff Planners instead of assuming
the post himself. 6 The air representative

ization for planning is based upon Davis, Origins of
JCS and CCS, pp. 324-85, and its sequel, vol. II in
Hist of JCS Organization in World War II, Develop-
ment of the JCS Committee Structure, pp. 3861-590;
Ray S. Cline, Washington Command Post:The Oper-
ations Division UNITED STATES ARMY IN
WORLD WAR II (Washington, 1951), chs. VI and
VIII; Craven and Cate, AAF 1, pp. 251—56.

•Admiral Turner was replaced as chief naval plan-
ner by Rear Adm. Charles M. Cooke, Jr., in June
when Turner left to command the South Pacific Am-
phibious Force. General Handy's successor was Brig.
Gen. Albeit C. Wedemeyer.

228

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Joint Chiefs of Staff. From left: Admiral King, General Marshall, Admiral Leahy, and
General Arnold.

initially was Maj. Gen. Carl Spaatz, and,
after the March reorganization of the
War Department, the Assistant Chief of
Staff for Plans of the new Army Air
Force. Other members were added, from
time to time — an additional member in
August to even the Army and Navy rep-
resentation, and then seven more mem-
bers with varying status to represent
logistical interests. Clearly this was not
a committee of equals. The senior Army
and Navy planners were its leading
members and by virtue of seniority, offi-
cial position, and access to the chiefs of
their services their views were generally
binding on the other members of the
committee.

The work of the Joint Staff Planners
was broad and varied, ranging from
global strategy to the allocation of minor
items of supply and encompassing not
only strategic but also operational, logis-
tic, and administrative aspects. Obvi-

ously, the group was too unwieldy and
too diverse in its composition to handle
all the problems that came before it.
Most of its work was farmed out to sub-
ordinate committees, the two senior
members controlling the assignments.
Most of these subcommittees were ad
hoc, formed for a particular task and
composed of planning officers and staff
experts drawn from the two services by
the chief Army and Navy planners. Only
the Joint Strategic Committee, which
had been taken over from the Joint
Board and redesignated the Joint U.S.
Strategic Committee (JUSSC) , had a
recognized status and membership as the
working group for the Joint Planners.
Assigned to it full time were eight senior
and highly qualified officers, four each
from the Army and the Navy War Plans
Divisions. One of the Army representa-
tives was an Air Forces officer and the
Navy's contingent usually included a

THE U.S. AND JAPANESE HIGH COMMANDS

229

Marine officer. The committee's char-
ter, as defined by the Joint Chiefs, called
upon it to "prepare such strategical esti-
mates, studies and plans" as the JPS
directed, and, in addition, to initiate
studies at its own discretion. 7 It was
natural, therefore, for the Joint Staff
Planners to rely heavily on the JUSSC,
especially in the field of broad strategy,
and to invite its members to sit with
them from time to time.

The role of the JUSSC in planning
proved to be quite different from that
envisaged by those of its members who
placed somewhat more emphasis on their
strategic responsibilities than did their
superiors. Much of the committee's
work proved to be routine, concerned
with relatively minor matters, and so
heavy was the load that it had no time
left to study problems it considered more
important in the conduct of the war.
Moreover, some of its members thought
it would be more appropriately and
profitably employed in the study of
future strategy than in routine matters
of troop deployment, production priori-
ties shipping schedules, and the like. 8

There was much merit in this view.
Certainly there was a need for long-range
studies, for a group of senior and experi-
enced Army and Navy planners, free
from the burdens of day-to-day problems,
who would devote their time to the
larger issues of the war, to future strategy
and political-military questions. But who
was best qualified to advise the Joint
Chiefs on these high-level matters? One
view was that this should be done by a

reconstituted JUSSC reporting directly
to the Joint Chiefs and consisting of four
flag or general officers representing the
Army, Navy, Army Air Forces, and the
Navy air arm. Another proposal for uti-
lizing the JUSSC more effectively in
strategic planning was to reduce its mem-
bership to four senior officers with two
assistants for each of its members and
charge it with responsibility, under the
Joint Staff Planners, for co-ordinating
the preparation of plans in support of
the basic strategy, reviewing these plans,
and developing recommendations for
changes in the basic strategy. If neither
of these proposals was acceptable, then
the JUSSC, said one of its members,
ought to be redesignated the "Joint
Working Committee" of the JPS in
frank recognition of its present function.
The Joint Chiefs considered this prob-
lem very carefully over a period of several
meetings in the fall of 1942. There was
no disagreement with Marshall's assertion
of the need for "an organization, with
sufficient prestige and disassociated from
current operations, which can obtain a
good perspective by being allowed time
for profound deliberations." 9 In his
view, an entirely new organization should
be created to meet this need. The possi-
bility of using the deputy chiefs of the
services for this purpose, an arrangement
that would permit the Joint Chiefs to
leave decisions on minor matters to the
new committee, was discussed at some
length. The solution finally adopted
represented a combination of the various
proposals. To satisfy the need for a

'JCS 14, 27 Feb 42, sub: Proposed Directive to JIC
and JUSSC; Mins, JCS Mtg, 9 Mar 42.

" Memo, Col. Ray T. Maddocks for Handy, 9 Jul 42,
sub: The JSSC, ABC 020 (ig Jul 42) sec. 3-J-A.

"Quoted in Davis, Development of the JCS Com-
mittee Structure, p. 553. These discussions are re-
corded in the JCS minutes of 20 and 27 October, 3
November, 8 and 10 December 1942.

230

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

high-level group of planners, the Joint
Chiefs formed a new committee, called
the Joint Strategic Survey Committee
(JSSC)— not related to the JUSSC— con-
sisting of three flag or general officers,
assigned to full time duty. Reporting
only to the Joint Chiefs, these officers
would have no duties other than to re-
flect on basic strategy and the long-range
implications of immediate events and
decisions. No sources of information
were to be denied them and they could,
if they desired, attend any meeting of
the Joint or Combined Chiefs of Staff and
of Joint or Combined Staff Planners. 10

This was to be truly a committee of
"elder statesmen," and the appointments
made fully bore out this intention of the
Joint Chiefs. Representing the Army
was Lt. Gen. Stanley D. Embick, who
had been associated with strategic plan-
ning throughout a long and distinguished
career. Vice Adm. Russell Willson rep-
resented the Navy, though he had to be
relieved of his important duties as Dep-
uty Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, to
serve on the committee. The Army Air
Forces member was Maj. Gen. Muir S.
Fairchild, recognized as an officer of
exceptional ability and breadth of view.
With this membership, unchanged
throughout the war, the Joint Strategic
Survey Committee began its existence in
November 1942.

The creation of the JSSC solved only
one of the problems facing the Joint
Chiefs. Still needed was a group that
could act for them on minor matters and
could represent them on various govern-

"JCS 149/D, 1 Nov 42, sub: Charter of the JSSC.
The charter authorized four members, two from the
Army and two from the Navy, but the Navy never
named a fourth member.

mental bodies where military advice was
Tequired. The idea of a committee con-
sisting of the Deputy Chiefs of Staff,
originally proposed as an alternative to
the JSSC, seemed an admirable solution
to this problem. Thus came into exist-
ence the Joint Deputy Chiefs of Staff
(JDCS) , consisting initially of Lt. Gen.
Joseph T. McNarney, Vice Adm. Fred-
erick J. Home, and Maj. Gen. George
E. Stratemeyer. 11

But the problem of the Joint U.S.
Strategic Committee was still unresolved.
The role the members of the committee
had envisaged for themselves had now be-
come the province of -the elder statesmen
of the Joint Strategic Survey Committee.
Moreover, the former had been engaged
since August 1942 on future strategy for
the defeat of Japan. In addition, it was
directed late in November to prepare a
long-range study for the employment of
United Nations forces for the defeat of
both Germany and Japan, to be co-
ordinated with British studies on the
same problem. Since the Joint Strategic
Survey Committee was engaged in simi-
lar studies, the need for a review of the
duties of the JUSSC was more urgent
than ever. Various proposals had been
put forward, but by the end of 1942 no
change had been made. When it came
in May 1943, it was accompanied by a
reorganization of the entire JCS
structure. 1 *

The work of the Joint Chiefs was sup-
ported by a variety of other committees,
some of which functioned purely in a
joint capacity and some as the U.S. com-
ponent of committees of the Combined
Chiefs. Intelligence activities were under

'JCS i64/D, 1 1 Dec 4 8, sub: Functions of the JDCS.
'See below, b. 455. |

THE U.S. AND JAPANESE HIGH COMMANDS

231

the purview of the -Joint Intelligence
Committee (JIC), which had been taken
over from the Joint Board at the same
time as the JUSSC. In recognition of
the role of psychological warfare in mod-
ern war, a separate committee (JPWC)
was formed to advise the Joint Chiefs on
this subject. The Office of Strategic
Services was also a part of the joint com-
mittee system, directly responsible for
certain matters to the Joint Chiefs and
for others to the JIC and the JPWC.
Additional committees advised on com-
munications, weather, new weapons
and equi pment, and transportation.

(Chart 3)

Within the War Department, strategic
planning and the co-ordination of mili-
tary operations were centered in the
Operations Division of the General Staff,
successor to the old War Plans Division
whose functions it absorbed in March
1942. In a very real sense, the Opera-
tions Division was General Marshall's
command post, the agency through which
he exercised control over and co-ordi-
nated the vast activities of the Army in
World War II. All strategic planning in
the War Department was done within
the Operations Division, or tunneled
through it, and its officers represented
the Army on virtually every major com-
bined and joint committee. Any matters
that might affect strategy or operations
came to it, and its roster included Iogis-
ticians as well as ground and air officers.
So varied were its functions that General
Wedemeyer was able to inform a British
officer of the Joint Staff Mission that
"your Washington contact agency is now
the Executive Officer, Operations Divi-
sion, War Department General Staff. He
will be able to refer you directly to the
proper section for solution of any prob-

lems presented." 13 In effect, it was a
general staff within the general staff.

The organization of the Operations
Division was tailored closely to its duties
and the needs of the Chief of Staff.
Under Eisenhower, its chief from Feb-
ruary to June 1942, it was organized
into three major groups — planning, op-
erations, and logistics — and an Executive
Office. The first, called the Strategy and
Policy Group, was the one most inti-
mately concerned with joint and com-
bined planning, and was responsible for
matters of general strategy, the prepara-
tion of studies, plans, and estimates, and
the issuance of directives for theater and
task force commanders. Its chief was the
Army member of the Joint Staff Plan-
ners and from it came the representa-
tives of the JUSSC. It had a section that
dealt with future operations only, an-
other with strategy, and one with sub-
jects that came up for discussion at the
combined level.

The co-ordination of operations with-
in the Operations Division was handled
by the Theater (Operations) Group.
This was the largest of the groups, and
was organized ultimately into sections
corresponding to the various theaters of
operations and serving in effect as Wash-
ington echelons of these theater head-
quarters. It was this group that kept in
close touch with theater problems, di-
rected the movement of troops overseas,
and co-ordinated all War Department
activities relating to theater require-
ments- For Pacific matters there were
two sections, the Pacific and the South-

"Ltr, Wedemeyer to Maj E. H. Baume, BJSM, 15
Jun 48, quoted in Cline, Washington Command Post,
p. \vz. This account of the Operations Division is
drawn very largely from this volume, especially
Chapter VIII.

Chart 3 — The Washington High Command and the Pacific Theaters, December 1942
|jcs

PRIME MINISTER

Operations
Division, WDGS

Strategy and 1
Policy Group |

Theater Group

Logistics

Group ]

Defense
Command

--,--—----- Administration and Supply
• ••••••• Composition

Services

of
Supply

Allied
Ground
Forces

Allied

Air
Forces

Allied
Naval
Forces

U.S. Ground
Forces

U.S.
Air Forces

U.S.
Naval
Forces

THE U.S. AND JAPANESE HIGH COMMANDS

233

west Pacific Theater Sections, headed
from mid- 1942 to mid- 1944 by Cols.
Carl D. Silverthorne and William L.
Ritchie. Both these officers made fre-
quent trips to the theaters and were con-
stantly called upon by the theater
commanders and by the planners in
Washington for assistance and advice on
theater problems.

In recognition of the intimate relation-
ship between logistics and strategy, and
the dependence of operations on man-
power, weapons, equipment, and trans-
portation, the Operations Division had a
Logistics Group. This group did not par-
ticipate in logistical planning or in the
manifold activities related to supply of
Army forces; these were the functions of
G-4 and of the Army Service Forces under
General Somervell. What it did instead
was to view these matters from the stra-
tegic level in order to advise General
Marshall on their implications when de-
cision by the Chief of Staff became nec-
essary. It was in a unique position to do
so because of its access to the planners
and theater experts in the division, and
its members represented the Army on a
variety of committees, both military and
civilian.

The Navy Department organization
for strategic planning and direction of
operations was not as highly centralized
as the War Department organization.
The reason for this difference lay partly
in Admiral King's dual status as Chief
of Naval Operations (CNO) and Com-
mander in Chief, United States Fleet
(COMINCH). In the former capacity
he was responsible for "the preparation,
readiness and logistic support of the
operating forces" of the Navy — its fleets,
shore establishments, sea frontiers, and
all seagoing forces. But as COMINCH,

in which capacity he was the supreme
commander of all operating forces of the
Navy, Admiral King was responsible for
execution of the plans he helped to
shape. To meet his dual responsibilities,
King formed two separate staff organiza-
tions, each of which maintained its own
planning office. 14

In his role as CNO, Admiral King had
ultimately six principal assistants, a Vice
Chief of Naval Operations, a Sub Chief,
a Deputy for Air Operations, and three
assistant chiefs. One of these last officers
was Director of the War Plans Division
and the principal strategic adviser of the
Chief of Naval Operations. This office,
comparable in prewar days and in the
first months of the war to the Army's
War Plans Division, was responsible for
the preparation of basic war plans, and
of plans for the development and main-
tenance of naval forces for war. In pre-
war days, its director had been a member
of the Joint Board, and its officers had
represented the Navy on the Joint Plan-
ning Committee, the Aeronautical
Board, and other joint groups. When
war came most of its strategic planning
functions were assumed by other offices.
Finally in 1943, it was redesignated the
Logistical Plans Division in recognition
of the fact that its functions were limited
to logistical planning and co-ordination.
Thus, the Navy War Plans Division de-
veloped in a way quite different from the
Army's War Plans Division and, instead
of becoming a super general staff, dimin-
ished in importance to become ultimately
an office under the Assistant Chief of
Naval Operations for Logistic Plans.

"This account of naval organization is drawn prin-
cipally from The National Archives, Federal Records
of World War II, vol II, Military Agencies
(Washington, 1951), pp. 571-602.

234

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

It was in his role as Commander in
Chief, United States Fleet, that Admiral
King performed most of his duties as a
member of the Joint and Combined
Chiefs. Thus, it was the fleet staff, under
a Deputy Commander and Chief of
Staff, that assumed most of the burdens
of strategic planning and direction of
naval operations. For each of these func-
tions, planning and operations, there
was a separate division — the Plans Divi-
sion and the Operations Division. The
last, as the name implies, was concerned
with the operations of fleets and naval
forces and kept a constant check on their
organization, combat readiness, and
movements. Through this division,
Admiral King maintained close contact
with his fleet and force commanders,
both surface and air, and exercised con-
trol over their operations. In general,
this office performed the same functions
as the Theater Group of the Army's
Operations Division but none of the
other functions of that division.

The chief responsibility for strategic
planning in the Navy resided in the
Plans Division, Headquarters, Com-
mander in Chief, United States Fleet.
Like the Logistic Plans Division, CNO,
it had its origins in the prewar War
Plans Division, part of whose functions
were transferred to the fleet staff in Jan-
uary 1942. When the two offices of CNO
and COMINCH were combined in
March 1942, the Plans Division was as-
signed additional responsibilities. Thus,
it became the source for current and
long-range strategic plans for the Navy,
and its officers became the chief naval
representatives on the various joint and
combined committees. It was the director
of this division, first Admiral Turner
and then Admiral Cooke, who was the

naval member of the Joint and Com-
bined Staff Planners, as was his chief
planner, usually a naval air officer.
Other officers in the division sat on the
Joint U.S. Strategic Committee and on
various joint ad hoc committees as they
were formed. The division's main task
was the preparation of estimates, studies,
and plans for joint and combined forces,
but it served also, much as did the Army's
Operations Division, as the co-ordinating
agency for implementing joint plans and
for liaison with other planning offices in
the Navy Department and with the War
Department General Staff.

The Japanese High Command

The Japanese high command, cen-
tered in Tokyo, was headed by the
Emperor. Under the Japanese constitu-
tion, the Army and Navy were responsi-
ble solely to the Emperor, and the Chiefs
of Staff of the two services, as imperial
advisers, had direct access to the throne.
The Emperor also received military
counsel from two advisory bodies, the
Board of Marshals and Fleet Admirals
and the Supreme War Council. But the
first exercised little influence and the
second was consulted only on adminis-
trative matters. Real authority and con-
trol lay in the hands of the general staff
and was exercised solely through the
Chiefs of Staff. They alone were respon-
sible for strategy and planning, and for
the direction of operations. 15

"This section is based on a study prepared for the
author by Stanley L. Falk, OCMH. The major sources
used in its preparation included: Imperial GHQ
Army High Command Record, Japanese Studies in
World War II, 72; Hattori, The Greater East Asia
War; Japanese Operations in SWPA; Maxon, Control
of Japanese Foreign Policy,

THE U.S. AND JAPANESE HIGH COMMANDS

235

The organization of the Army and
Navy General Staffs, with certain impor-
tant exceptions, was similar. The Army
staff was the larger, reflecting the greater
power of its Chief of Staff and his con-
trol over training and other activities not
shared by his naval colleague. It was
organized into bureaus, the most impor-
tant of which were the ist (Operations),
2d (Intelligence) , 3d (Transportation
and Communications), and General Af-
fairs Bureau. The main Navy staff con-
sisted also of numbered bureaus, but the
numbers did not correspond to those in
the Army. The bureaus of both services,
corresponding to G-Sections of Western
general staffs, were usually headed by
general and flag officers who exercised
considerable influence on strategy and
operations.

The conduct of the war was nominally
in the hands of Imperial General Head-
quarters, acting directly under the au-
thority of the Emperor. Representing
the Army and Navy Chiefs of Staff and
the War and Navy Ministries, Imperial
General Headquarters was divided into
the Army and Navy Sections, each acting
independently. Army Section met in the
Army General Staff offices, Navy Section
in its own offices. At joint meetings,
held about twice a week on the Imperial
Palace grounds, both Chiefs of Staff pre-
sided. The Emperor occasionally attend-
ed these meetings, but rarely those of the
individual service staffs.

The main weakness of Imperial Gen-
eral Headquarters was that it was not a
single joint command, even an imperfect
one. Rather it was a facade to cover two
separate organizations with strong com-
peting interests and rivalries. Army and
Navy plans were developed separately in
the Operations Bureaus of the General

Staffs, and plans and operations orders
were issued not from Imperial General
Headquarters as such but rather from its
Army Section or its Navy Section. Joint
operations were conducted by means of
agreements between the Army and Navy,
and separate orders were issued to Army
and Navy commanders. Often Army-
Navy disagreement over a proposed joint
operation might result in delay or even
the abandonment of the operation. Even
when agreement was reached, the opera-
tion would normally be carried out not
by a joint commander, but by separate
Army and Navy commanders who would
"co-operate" with each other under the
terms of an Army-Navy "agreement."
On the rare occasions that saw the estab-
lishment of a joint operational command,
supplies were still delivered through
separate service channels, with conse-
quent duplication, oversights, and
mutual recriminations.

In the absence of any leadership on
the part of the Emperor, the Army and
Navy went their separate ways. But the
Army was clearly the leading service.
The position of General Tojo as both
Premier and War Minister, along with
his other Cabinet positions, undoubtedly
lent the Army increased prestige, and
Admiral Shigetaro Shimada, the Navy
Minister during most of .the war, fol-
lowed a policy of trying to co-operate
with the Army. There was, nevertheless,
no co-ordinated Army-Navy policy. As
one former Navy Minister put it, "As
far as questions of Army operations are
concerned, if the Chief of the Army Gen-
eral Staff says that we will do this, that
is the end of it; and as far as the Navy
operations are concerned, if the Chief
of the Navy General Staff says we will do
this, that fixes it; and should there de-

236

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

velop difference of opinion between the
two chiefs, then nothing can be accom-
plished." 16 This division was a major
weakness in Japan's military establish-
ment. The Japanese were well aware of
this, and late in the war General Tojo
proposed a real merger of Army and
Navy Sections, a proposal that came to
naught.

The link between Imperial General
Headquarters and the Cabinet was the
Liaison Conference. This conference,
initiated briefly in 1937 after the re-
establishment of Imperial General Head-
quarters, was resumed in 1940 and
continued throughout the war. It had
no formal status or authority, but was
merely a framework for discussions be-
tween the civil government and the
military authorities. The participants
were the Chiefs of Staff, the Army and
Navy Ministers (themselves active duty
officers and largely under the control of
the Chiefs of Staff) , the Premier, and
such other ministers as might be neces-
sary. Also present were the Cabinet sec-
retary and the chiefs of the Military
Affairs Bureaus of the Army and Navy
Ministries. These last three functioned as
a secretariat, and by their choice of
agenda and their role in briefing the
participants, they exercised a very strong
influence on the outcome of the Liaison
Conferences. Their presence, also, meant
that the conference proceedings would
soon become known to other members

"Adm Mitsuma a Yonai, in USSBS, Interrogations
of Japanese Officials, II, 328. This discussion of IGHQ
is based on Maxon, op. cit., pp. 21, 59-62, 126-27,
167—68, 185-86, 189, 191, 255 n. 7; Hattori, op. cit.,
pp. 239—40; Japanese Opns in SWPA, p. 52; Tsuruzo
Akisada, History of Conflicts Between Army and
Navy, and Clique Struggles, GHQ FEC, MIS, Hist
Div, Translation of Japanese Documents, III;
Morison, Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, pp. 15—22.

of the General Staffs, and the civilian
participants were fully aware of the
danger of assassination for any one who
raised too strong a voice against the
plans of the military.

The Liaison Conference usually met
twice a week, in a small conference room
in one of the Imperial Palace buildings.
There was no presiding officer, but the
Premier occupied an armchair at the far
end of the room and the others sat
grouped around him. A variety of sub-
jects was discussed at these meetings:
war plans, diplomatic moves, the admin-
istration of occupied areas, and the as-
signment of national resources. Once a
decision was reached at the Liaison Con-
ference, it became in effect national
policy by virtue of the official position
of conference members, though the
conference itself had no legal status.

On the surface the Liaison Conference
appeared to be a meeting of equals. But
appearances were deceptive. The mili-
tary dominated the conference and dic-
tated policy. "Imperial General
Headquarters was in the Liaison Con-
ferences," explained General Tojo after
the war, "and after they got through
deciding things, the Cabinet, generally
speaking, made no objection. Theoreti-
cally, the Cabinet members could have
disagreed . . . , but, as a practical matter,
they agreed and did not say anything." 1T
Imperial General Headquarters was thus
the source of Japanese national policy.
"The Cabinet, and hence the civil govern-
ment," wrote former Premier Konoye in

"Quoted in Maxon, op. cit., p. 150. This discussion
of the Liaison Conference is based on ibid., pp. 127—
2g, 132, 149-56, 168, 181—83; Imperial GHQ Army
High Command Record, Japanese Studies in World
War II, No, pp. 6-g, and Chart I; Japanese Opns in
SWPA, p. 52 n. 24.

THE U.S. AND JAPANESE HIGH COMMANDS

237

his memoirs, "were manipulated like
puppets by the Supreme Command " 18

On extremely important occasions, the
Liaison Conference became an Imperial
Conference, or a Conference in the Im-
perial Presence, by adding to its mem-
bership the Emperor, the President of
the Privy Council, and other high offi-
cials. These meetings were much more
formal that the Liaison Conferences.
The participants made set speeches, pre-
viously written and rehearsed, all differ-
ences of opinion having been carefully
resolved beforehand. The Emperor lis-
tened in silence, seated on a raised dais
before a long, rectangular table, where
the major participants sat facing each
other. The three secretaries were
grouped around a small table in the cor-
ner of the room. The Premier presided
over the meeting, and each participant
rose in turn, bowed to the Emperor, and
stood stiffly in front of his chair while
speaking. No one entered or left the
room during the conference. At the con-
clusion of the presentations, the Presi-
dent of the Privy Council asked questions
designed to elicit further information
for the Emperor. These questions and
answers were unrehearsed, but none of
the representatives of the Cabinet dared
deviate from the prearranged conclu-
sions of the group. The Emperor, whose
role was normally a passive one, did not
speak. Only on very rare occasions, such
as at the Imperial Conference on 6 Sep-
tember 1941 and the one in August 1945
that led to the Japanese surrender, did
he venture to exercise his authority. 19

Beneath the military high command
structure in Tokyo, the Japanese had an

"Quoted in Maxon, op. tit., p. 182.
"Ibid., pp. 63-64, 66, 156-59, 161-62, 17a, 183-83,
204-09; Hattori, op. cit., pp. 243-45.

extensive field organization. (Chart 4)
In theory, field commanders were di-
rectly responsible to the Emperor, the
commander in chief of the armed forces,
but in fact came under the control of
Imperial General Headquarters, acting
for the commander in chief. There was
no direct communication between the
throne and the field. Basic orders were
issued to field commanders as Imperial
General Headquarters Army or Navy
Section Orders, signed by the appropriate
Chief of Staff, "by Imperial Command."
The detailed instructions necessary for
the implementation of these orders,
called Imperial General Headquarters
Army or Navy Section Directives, were
issued by the appropriate Chief of Staff
without any reference to the throne.
Recommendations of the field command-
ers to the throne or request for review
of headquarters decisions had to be sub-
mitted to Imperial General Headquarters
through the appropriate Chief of Staff. 20
Unlike the Allies, the Japanese did
not ordinarily organize their ground, air,
and naval forces in the field under a
single joint commander. Nor did they
establish theaters of operations corres-
ponding to geographical areas under a
theater headquarters. Normally, the
forces of each service in an area were
placed under a separate Army or fleet
headquarters whose commanders
received orders through separate chan-
nels and worked together under the
principle of co-operation. The highest
Japanese command, equivalent to a U.S.
Army overseas command or perhaps to

^Imperial GHQ Army High Command Record,
p. 2. Examples of Imperial General Headquarters
Army and Navy Orders and Directives are to be found
in several volumes of these documents prepared by
FEC Mil Hist Sec, copies of which are on file in
OCMH.

Chart 4 — The Japanese High Command

SUPREME WAR COUNCIL

THE EMPEROR

BOARD OF MARSHALS
AND ADMIRALS

LIAISON CONFERENCE

IMPERIAL GENERAL HEADQUARTERS

Army CofS
Army Section

Army
Minister

General
Defense
Command

Kwantung
Atmy

Navy CofS
Navy Section

Navy
Minister

Southern
Atmy

China

Expeditionary

Army

South Seas
Detachment

Combined
Fleet

China
Area
Fleet

Naval
Stations

THE U.S. AND JAPANESE HIGH COMMANDS

239

an army group, was the general army,
the size of which might vary widely, and
which operated directly under the Army
Section of Imperial General Headquar-
ters in Tokyo. There were three such
armies during the early period of the
war: Southern Army, Kwantung Army,
and China Expeditionary Army. In each
of these were usually one or more area
armies, equivalent to U.S. field armies
and consisting of units equivalent to a
U.S. corps but called armies by the Japa-
nese. There was no unit called a corps
in the Japanese Army, Japanese divi-
sions, brigades, and other separate units
being assigned directly to armies. (An
exception was the South Seas Detach-
ment which served directly under Army
Section, Imperial General Headquar-
ters.) Thus, Southern Army, which con-
ducted the opening operations of the
war, consisted of four armies, two '"air
groups, and several smaller units.

Unlike the Army, the Japanese Navy
placed most of its combat forces under
a single command, the Combined Fleet,
which controlled all naval operations in
the Pacific area and was roughly com-
parable to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. During
the early months of the war, this fleet

had under its command six numbered
fleets, two numbered air fleets, and the
Southern Expeditionary Fleet. The
numbered fleets, depending on their mis-
sion, contained surface, submarine, and
air units as well as service and support
elements and base forces. Most of the
carrier-based air power of the Combined
Fleet was concentrated in the ist Air
Fleet, which included four of Japan's
five carrier divisions. Land-based naval
air power was for the most part assigned
to the nth Air Fleet, submarines to the
6th Fleet, and battleships to the ist
Fleet. 21

This was the organization of the Japa-
nese high command during the first year
of the war. As the war progressed, adjust-
ments were made, old organizations ex-
panded and shifted, and new commands
created to meet the needs of the changing
strategic situation. But the basic struc-
ture, except for the creation of a Supreme
Council in August 1 944 to take the place
of the Liaison Conference, remained
unchanged throughout the war.

^Imperial GHQ Army High Command Record,
passim; Japanese Opns in SWPA, pp. 52—56; The
Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II, Japanese
Studies in World War II, 127, passim.

CHAPTER XI

Organization and Command of the Pacific

The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without
fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do
good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.

Sun Tzu

At the outbreak of war the United
States had in the Pacific four major
commands, USAFFE and the Asiatic
Fleet in the Philippines, the Pacific Fleet
and the Hawaiian Department in Ha-
waii. All quickly proved inadequate to
deal with a situation that had not been
anticipated in prewar plans. They had
no time to do more than improvise,
sending forces where they were most
urgently needed and establishing bases
and commands as they were required
and as troops and shipping became
available.

As American responsibilities in the
Pacific were extended and U.S. forces
there increased, the need for centralized
direction and control of the scattered
and often independent garrisons which
had developed helter-skelter became
more urgent. There was no single agency
in the Pacific to supply these forces, no
plan to unify their efforts, and no single
commander to mold them into an effec-
tive force capable of offensive as well as
defensive operations. The fashioning of
such an organization and the selection
of a commander presented many prob-
lems, not the least of which was the deli-
cate adjustment of the conflicting claims

of the Army and Navy to command in
the Pacific. By midsummer of 1942 the
task was substantially completed and
the Army and Navy organization in the
Pacific had taken the form it would
retain for almost three years of war.

The Problem of Responsibility

Responsibility for the defense of Allied
interests in the Far East and in the vast
Pacific Ocean was divided at the start
of war among the powers most directly
concerned and there was little or no
provision for common action. The Brit-
ish held the predominant interest in
Southeast Asia, China on the Asiatic
mainland, the Dutch in the Indies, Aus-
tralia and New Zealand in the South-
west and South Pacific, and the United
States in the western Pacific and the
ocean reaches from the date line to the
shores of the western hemisphere.

Before the war was a month old the
need for co-ordinated effort against the
Japanese had produced agreement, some-
what unwillingly on the part of the Aus-
tralians and the Dutch, for the establish-
ment of ABDACOM. This agreement
was limited to that portion of the

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

241

Pacific and Far East that lay between
Burma and Australia and in no wise
affected the responsibilities of each na-
tion for the defense of its own interests
and territory outside the ABDA area.

The fall of Singapore on 15 February,
foreshadowing the loss of Sumatra and
Java, made virtually certain the split of
the ABDA area in two. The military
staffs as well as their political chiefs
began therefore to seek a substitute for
the doomed ABDACOM. With the Jap-
anese in control of the Malay Barrier,
interposed between the Pacific and
Indian Oceans, it was evident that the
operations of those forces assigned to
the Southwest Pacific and Southeast Asia
could no longer be co-ordinated under a
single commander. That responsibility
would now have to be divided. 1

There was no disagreement over the
division of responsibility. Even before
the fall of Singapore it was generally
accepted that the United States had the
primary interest in the Pacific Ocean,
Great Britain in the Indian. China, be-
cause of political difficulties, was already
recognized as a special problem. Talk-
ing with Harry Hopkins on the evening
of 15 February, President Roosevelt
clearly indicated that the United States
should assume responsibility for the re-
inforcement of Australia and New Zea-
land, as well as China. The British, he
thought, were in a better position to
support India and Burma where their

'The material in this section is covered in part in
Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, 1941-42, pp.
164—73; Hayes, The War Against Japan, ch. IV;
Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and Strategy,
ch. IX; History of U.S. Army Forces in the South Pa-
cific Area (USAFISPA), MS prepared by the author
and associates in 1944-45 at Hq USAFISPA, copy in
OCMH. Besides using these works as necessary, the
author has closely examined the sources on which
they were based and has drawn his own conclusions.

political and economic influence was
paramount. These thoughts Roosevelt
included in a message to Churchill three
days later, with expressions of sympathy
for the loss of Singapore. 2

The same or similar ideas were ad-
vanced independently about the same
time in other quarters. The day after
Singapore's surrender Admiral King sug-
gested that the east (Australian) flank
of ABDACOM be combined with the
ANZAC Area to form a single theater.
While admitting that there were other
ways to solve the problem of organiza-
tion, he made it clear that the United
States had the predominant interest in
the area and that the operations of the
Pacific Fleet required the defense of
Australia and the line of communica-
tions. The British, he stated, should
assume responsibility for China, Burma,
and India.

This same idea was advanced also by
the Joint U.S. Strategic Committee on
the 18th. A few days later the Joint
Staff Planners themselves suggested that
a separate Australian command, to in-
clude part of New Guinea, be estab-
lished, and that ANZAC be retained to
defend the Northeast Area. Finally, on
23 February, the British Chiefs in Lon-
don, apparently in response to the Presi-
dent's message to Churchill, declared in
favor of establishing two areas of strate-
gic responsibility: one a United States
area to comprise the Pacific Ocean, in-
cluding Australia and New Zealand, and
the other a British area encompassing
the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.
The countries within these areas would

'Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, pp. 502-03;
Mins of the War Council, 16 Feb 42, Secy War Conf
II, WDCSA; Rad, President to Churchill, No. 106,
18 Feb 42, ABC 323.31 (1-29-42 sec. 1A) POA.

242

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

provide for their own defense, but the
United States and Great Britain would
furnish the forces and exercise strategic
control "in accordance with the general
policy agreed between London and
Washington for the conduct of the war
as a whole." 3

Pending formal agreement between
the British and American Governments,
the Combined Chiefs in Washington dis-
cussed the practical problem of drawing
the boundary line between the areas for
which each nation would assume strate-
gic responsibility when the time came.
The British Chiefs had suggested on the
23d a line extending southeast from
Singapore through the Java Sea to
Timor, then south to Australia, thus
placing most of the Malay Barrier in
the British area. The planners in Wash-
ington objected to this division on the
ground that those islands in the Nether-
lands Indies that were within range of
Australia were vital to its defense and
should be under its control. Moreover,
they pointed out, submarine and air
operations along the Malay Barrier could
be more effectively based on Australia
than on India, where the British Far
Eastern Fleet was stationed. The line
they proposed, therefore, placed all of
the Indies except Sumatra, as well as
the Philippines and Australia,, within
the American area, and it was this line,
slightly modified, which was finally ac-
cepted by the Combined Chiefs early
in March. 4

a Rad, BCOS to JSM, 23 Feb 42, ABC 323.31 (1-29-
42 sec. i-A) POA; Memo, King for CCS, 17 Feb 42,
sub: Changes in ABDA, ABC 381 (i-ia-42) SWPA;
JUSSC, Review of Strategic Situation, 18 Feb 42, CCS
381 (1-30-42); Mins, CCS Mtgs, 17, 2a, and 23 Feb 42.

4 CCS 53, Demarkation of New Strategic Areas, a8
Feb 42, CCS 381 (1-24-42 sec. 1); Mins, CPS Mtg, 25
Feb 42; CCS Mtg, 3 Mar 42.

Acceptance by the Combined Chiefs
of the principle of strategic responsibil-
ity and of a line separating the Pacific
and Indian Oceans did not in itself
constitute formal authority for alloca-
tion of areas of responsibility or the
establishment of new commands. These
measures would have to wait agreement
on the political level and formal disso-
lution of ABDACOM, a step that would
not be taken so long as the Dutch con-
tinued to fight in Java. In the interim,
adjustments were made in command to
meet the changing situation and pre-
pare for the reorganization that was cer-
tain to come. On 22 February General
Mac Arthur was ordered to Australia to
command what was euphemistically
called "a reconstituted ABDA Area" and
three days later Wavell left for India
where Brereton had already gone. At
the same time General Brett returned
to Australia to command U.S. forces
there until MacArthur's arrival.

These adjustments had scarcely been
made when the news from Java gave
increased urgency to the need for an
early decision on the establishment of
areas of responsibility and the formation
of a new command in the Pacific. The
problem was discussed at the White
House on 7 March, and on the 9th, the
day the Dutch in Java laid down their
arms, Roosevelt broached the subject to
Prime Minister Churchill. Starting with
the obvious need to replace ABDACOM,
the President suggested a three-way divi-
sion of the Allied world into American
and British areas. In the Pacific, where
the United States would have responsi-
bility, command would be exercised by
an American officer responsible to the
U.S. Joint Chiefs. The British, Roosevelt
suggested, should assume similar

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

243

responsibility in a "middle area" stretch-
ing from Singapore to the Mediterra-
nean. A third area comprising Europe
and the Atlantic would be jointly admin-
istered by the United States and Great
Britain through the Combined Chiefs of
Staff. This body, under Roosevelt's plan,
would also co-ordinate operations in all
three areas, allocate Allied resources, and
formulate grand strategy. 5

Substantially the same proposal was
made the same day by General Marshall,
acting at the President's behest, to the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. This step intro-
duced the plan officially into military
channels and placed it ultimately before
the Combined Chiefs. Though it pro-
duced no formal agreement, Marshall's
statement to the Joint Chiefs is instruc-
tive for in it he undertook to clarify the
control of the U.S. and British Chiefs
over the proposed spheres of responsi-
bility. Where strategic responsibility was
assigned to a single nation, he stated, the
government of that nation would make
arrangements with the other govern-
ments in the area for its organization
and command, and the Chiefs of Staff
of that nation would exercise jurisdiction
over operations and "minor strategy" —
presumably the strategy relating to that
area alone. In those spheres where joint
responsibility was established, strategic
responsibility would devolve on the
Combined Chiefs. 6

"White House Conf, 7 Mar 42, summarized in JCS
19, 9 Mar 4a; Mins, JCS Mtg, 9 Mar 42; Memo,
Eisenhower for JCS, 8 Mar 42, sub: Strategic Respon-
sibility, JCS 19/1, 9 Mar 42; Rad, President to
Churchill, No. 115, 9 Mar 4a, CCS 381 (3-5-48).

"Memo, Marshall for JCS, 9 Mar 42, sub: Strategic
Responsibility, JCS 19/1; Mins, JCS Mtg, 9 Mar 42,
CCS Mtgs, 17 and 24 Mar 42; CCS 57/8, Strategic
Responsibility, 24 Mar 42: Memo, Secy JCS to JCS,
15 Jul 42, sub: Status of Agreements on Strategic
Responsibility, CCS 381 (1-24—42 sec. 3).

While Marshall's memorandum was
making its way upward through official
channels and while the Joint Chiefs were
working out an organization for the
Pacific area, negotiations on the political
level continued. On 18 March Churchill
responded to the President's proposal
with a hearty indorsement of the idea
for American and British spheres, and
of a single American commander for the
Pacific responsible to the Joint Chiefs.
The Combined Chiefs under his and
Roosevelt's direction would see to it,
Churchill assumed, that operations in
each theater conformed to a common
strategy. Both the Australian and New
Zealand Governments, to whom
Churchill had forwarded the President's
proposals, favored the principle of
spheres of responsibility also, but had
serious objections to the command ar-
rangements Roosevelt had suggested.
They were willing, even anxious, to have
an American commander but wanted a
voice in the formulation of strategy and
a seat on the Combined Chiefs of Staff
when that body deliberated on Pacific
matters. 7

Reasonable as this request seemed, it
was greeted in Washington with the
same objections that had been offered
to similar representations when ABDA-
COM was created. To the Joint Chiefs,
the adoption of this arrangement, plus
some other suggestions made at the same
time, was inadvisable because it would
slow up and complicate their work. This
discussion, like the formal paper on
spheres of responsibility, led nowhere,
for already a new organization of the

'Rads, Churchill to President, Nos. 46, 54, and 58,
18, 20, and 24 Mar 42, filed with JCS ig/i and CCS
57/1, ABC 371 (3—5-42) and CCS 381 (1-24-42).

244

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Pacific theater, which the establishment
of areas of responsibility would presum-
ably authorize, had been created. 8 Mili-
tary exigency had outpaced political
decision.

The Southwest Pacific and Pacific
Ocean Areas

In the weeks that had passed since the
fall of Singapore, the Army and Navy
planners had been hard at work fashion-
ing an organization in the Pacific that
would satisfy both services as well as
the governments involved. The task was
a difficult one and resulted finally in a
compromise that worked reasonably well
and produced in three years the victories
which took Allied forces from Austra-
lia and Hawaii to the Philippines and
Okinawa.

From the start the discussion over
organization assumed that two theaters
would be established in the Pacific de-
spite the fact that the President evi-
dently had in mind a single commander
for the entire area and had so stated
in his recent message to the Prime Min-
ister. The appointment of a single com-
mander had so many obvious advantages
and was so close to General Marshall's
belief in the importance of unified com-
mand that the failure of the Joint Chiefs
and their planners to consider it is in-
deed surprising. One can only conclude
that this omission was deliberate, but the
record provides no clue to the reason.
The answer may lie in the fact that
everyone recognized that no officer could

be found who would be acceptable to all.
The outstanding officer in the Pacific
was General MacArthur, who, if he had
the support of the President, the Army,
the American people, and the Austra-
lians, did not have the confidence of the
Navy. There was a widespread feeling
in the Navy that the Pacific was pecul-
iarly its province. Certainly the Navy
would never have entrusted the fleet
to MacArthur, or to any Army officer.
Admiral Nimitz, the chief naval candi-
date for the post, had not yet acquired
the popularity and prestige he later en-
joyed and was, moreover, considerably
junior to MacArthur in length of serv-
ice and seniority. There was no escape
from this impasse except the creation of
two commands. 9

As in the discussion over spheres of
responsibility, the decision on organiza-
tion would have to await the outcome
in Java. Suggestions made before that
time, though helpful, could receive no
official sanction. In that category fell
Admiral King's proposal to combine
that portion of the ABDA area still in
Allied hands with ANZAC into a single
command. The remainder of the Pacific,
including the Philippines, King thought,
could then be integrated into a separate
command and subdivided into three
areas, a north, south, and central Pacific.
His proposal and others were studied by
the planners but never got beyond that
stage. 10

'Memo, Marshall for Pres, 24 Mar 42, ABC 323.31
(1—29-42 sec. I-B) POA; Mins, JCS Mtg, 23 Mar 42.
See also WDCSA 381 Australia.

"Memo, Turner for King, 19 Mar 42, Office of
Naval Records, cited in Hayes, The War Against
Japan, ch. IV, p. 18.

10 Memo, King for JCS, 16 Feb 42, sub: Changes in
ABDA, ABC 381 (1-12^2) SWPA; Mins, CCS Mtg,
17 Feb 42; WPD Notes on Demarcation of New Stra-
tegic Areas CPS 19/D and CCS 53, ABC 323.31
(1-29-42 sec l-A) POA; Mins. JCS Mtg, 2 Mar 4s.

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

245

Meanwhile the Australian and New
Zealand Governments had joined forces
to develop plans for their own defense.
For four days, from 26 February to 1
March, their Chiefs of Staff met in Mel-
bourne to discuss this problem as well
as the related problem of organization
and command in the Southwest Pacific.
General Brett was present at these meet-
ings and reported fully to the War De-
partment, urging at the same time that
the United States take immediate action
to reorganize the area. The Dominion
Chiefs of Staff, he told Marshall at the
end of the conference, favored the estab-
lishment of a new area encompassing
their own territory as well as Timor,
Amboina, and New Guinea, and the
appointment of an American officer to
command it. (Brett was the man they
had in mind.) This officer, the Aus-
tralians and New Zealanders thought,
should be responsible to the U.S. and
British Chiefs, rather than the U.S.
Chiefs alone.

Though this arrangement differed in
several important respects from those
already under consideration in Wash-
ington, Marshall seized this fresh oppor-
tunity to force a decision on the
organization of the Pacific. "I should like
to see the question of command settled
quickly and specifically . . . ," he wrote
to Brett, "but the definite proposal to
that effect should be made by the local
governments." What he suggested was
that the Australians and New Zealand-
ers make their recommendations formal-
ly to the British who would eventually
forward them to the Combined Chiefs.
If this was done, he thought "the whole
matter could be settled expeditiously."
But, he warned Brett, "you must be care-
ful not to give the impression that you

are acting under instructions from the
War Department." 11

The Australian and New Zealand pro-
posal reached Washington on 7 March,
whereupon Marshall advised Brett to do
nothing more until he received fresh in-
structions. "The Combined Chiefs of
Staff," he explained, "are studying the
subjects covered . . . which involve far-
reaching readjustments." 12 But the Com-
bined Chiefs, having agreed only a few
days before, on 3 March, that if the
Pacific area was made an American re-
sponsibility, control would be vested in
the U.S. Chiefs of Staff, did not consider
the ANZAC proposal at all but passed
it on to the Joint Chiefs. There it met
serious criticism from Admiral King who
had strong objections to placing Austra-
lia and New Zealand in a single theater.
New Zealand, he insisted, was a link in
the line of communications and an inte-
gral part of the system of island bases
stretching east and north to Hawaii.
The defense of this line, King declared,
was essentially a naval problem and inti-
mately associated with the operations of
the Pacific Fleet. Australia and its ap-
proaches through the Netherlands Indies
and New Guinea formed a separate stra-
tegic entity and should, King asserted,
be placed under another command. 13
Here was a clear exposition, based on
strategic considerations, for a twofold
division of the Pacific.

"Rads, Brett to Marshall, Nos. 87 and 467, 27 Feb
and 3 Mar 42, WPD Ready Ref File Australia; Mar-
shall to Brett, No. 543, 5 Mar 42, WPD Msg File
Australia.

"Rad, Marshall to Brett, No. 589, 8 Mar 4s, WPD
Msg File Australia; Memo, British COS for JSM, 7
Mar 42, Governmental and Strategical Control, CCS

57. 323-3 1 ('-29-42 sec- !- A ) POA -

"Comments of Adm King on Hayes, The War
Against Japan, ch. IV, p. 21; JCS 18, Governmental
and Strategical Control, 8 Mar 42.

246

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The differences between the Army's
and Navy's views emerged clearly in the
next two days during which the naval
staff members, following up King's lead,
developed one plan and their Army col-
leagues another. The Navy's plan called
for an Australian area whose western
limits followed the line of demarcation
between the Pacific and Indian Oceans
accepted by the Combined Chiefs. The
eastern boundary, the 160th and 165th
meridian east as far as the equator,
placed all of the Solomons in the Aus-
tralian area, but excluded the New Heb-
rides, New Caledonia, and New Zealand.
On the north the area was bounded by
an irregular line drawn to include New
Guinea and the Indies, but not the Phil-
ippines. The rest of the Pacific, from
New Zealand and New Caledonia east-
ward, the naval planners organized into
a Pacific Ocean area subdivided into
three parts and placed under the Com-
mander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. Opera-
tional control of both the Australian and
Pacific Ocean areas, the naval planners
recommended, should rest with the Joint
Chiefs. 14

The Army planners led by General
Eisenhower accepted the twofold division
of the Pacific but not Admiral King's
claim that New Zealand belonged with
the line of communications rather than
Australia. Their arrangement followed
closely the one proposed by the Domin-
ions and provided for a Southwest and
North Pacific area. The first would com-
prise all of the Pacific south of the line
Philippines-Samoa. The supreme com-
mander for this area, which would in-
clude New Caledonia, the Fijis, New
Guinea, Australia and New Zealand, was

to be selected by the governments in the
area, but it was already understood that
he would be an American, probably
MacArthur. The North Pacific area,
everything north and east of the Philip-
pines and Samoa, would be commanded
by a naval officer. 15

The differences between the Army and
Navy plans were reconciled by the Joint
Chiefs between 9 and 16 March. In the
9 March meeting, at which the two plans
were first discussed, Admiral King firmly
defended the Navy solution, emphasiz-
ing the need for preserving freedom of
action for the fleet. General Marshall,
apparently convinced by King or unwill-
ing to risk a deadlock that would require
Presidential action, did not insist on the
adoption of the Army's plan but only
that the Philippine Islands, for "psycho-
logical reasons," be included in the Aus-
tralia, or Southwest Pacific Area, as it
came to be called. To this Admiral King
agreed and the Navy's plan, with some
slight modifications, was approved by the
Joint Chiefs. 16 Curiously enough, this
action, which anticipated American and
British approval of the division of the
world into spheres of responsibility, had
no official basis then or thereafter, for
the British Government never took ac-
tion on the proposal to establish these
spheres of responsibility. The reason for
this failure is not clear, but there is no
doubt that the planners of both nations
as well as their military and civilian
chiefs favored the proposal and always
acted as though it had official sanction.

Having reached agreement on the
organization for the Pacific, the Joint

"JCS 18, Governmental and Strategical Control,
8 Mar 42.

"Memo, Marshall for JCS, g Mar 42, sub: Creation
ofSWPA,JCS 18/2.

"Mins JCS Mtgs, 9 and 16 Mar 42; CCS Mtg,
17 Mar 42.

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

247

Chiefs proceeded to the task of selecting
the commanders and preparing directives
for them. Theoretically this task pre-
sented few difficulties but it was com-
plicated by commitments already made
and instructions previously issued.
Though MacArthur's name had not
been mentioned in the Joint Chiefs' dis-
cussions, he had been virtually promised
the post of supreme commander in the
Southwest Pacific Area even before such
an area had been established. On 10
March, while he was still negotiating
with King on the future organization
of the Pacific, Marshall had instructed
Brett to notify the Australian Prime
Minister "within the hour" of Mac-
Arthur's arrival in Australia and of his
assumption of command of U.S. forces
there — the post Brett himself held.
"You will propose," Marshall further
instructed Brett, "that the Australian
Government nominate General Mac-
Arthur as the Supreme Commander of
the Southwest Pacific Area, and will
recommend that the nomination be sub-
mitted as soon as possible to London
and Washington simultaneously." 17

General Brett followed his instructions
faithfully. When MacArthur's plane
reached Darwin on 17 March, Brett tele-
phoned Prime Minister Curtin and in
the President's name put forward Mac-
Arthur's nomination for the post for
which the Australians had earlier nomi-
nated Brett himself. This was the first
indication Curtin had of MacArthur's
presence and he fell in with Brett's
suggestion readily and with enthusiasm.
That same day he named MacArthur
as his government's choice for supreme
commander. In Washington this request

"Rad, Marshall to Brett, 613, 10 MaT 42, OPD Exec

Files.

was the signal for an unusually prompt
War Department press release announc-
ing the news of MacArthur's arrival in
Australia and his impending appoint-
ment "in accordance with the request
of the Australian Government." To the
British Prime Minister, Roosevelt ex-
plained that he had authorized this pub-
lic statement to forestall Axis propaganda
that MacArthur's departure from the
Philippines meant that the United States
had abandoned the Filipinos. Mac-
Arthur's nomination, the President as-
sured Churchill, would "in no way
interfere with procedure of determining
strategic areas and spheres of respon-
sibility through established channels." 18
Whether by design or not, the effect
of Marshall's instructions to Brett, which
the President approved, was to present
the British with a fait accompli. It also
made any discussion by the Joint Chiefs
of a commander for the Southwest Pacific
entirely academic. The legal forms were
preserved, however, and officially the
Southwest Pacific Area was still to be
established and its commander desig-
nated. These actions presumably would
be completed only after agreement be-
tween the United States and Great Brit-
ain on spheres of responsibility. Thus
it was that on 18 March, two days after
the Joint Chiefs had agreed on an organ-
ization for the Pacific and the day after
MacArthur reached Australia, Marshall
dispatched a long message to MacArthur
explaining the situation to him and as-
suring him that when the negotiations
with the British and Australians were
completed his appointment would be

18 Milner, |)>'icfory in Papua, p. i8;| Rads, Brett to
Marshall, No. 736, 17 Mar 42, President to Churchill,
same date, OPD Exec Files; WD Press Release, 17
Mar 4s.

248

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

made official. Until that time he would
be, for all practical purposes, the supreme
commander in the Southwest Pacific
As such, Marshall told him, he would
be ineligible to command directly any
national force and would therefore have
to relinquish command of U.S. Army
Forces in Australia to Brett from whom
he had taken over only the day before.
Ultimately, Brett would command the air
forces, Admiral Leary the naval forces
(ANZAC would cease to exist when the
new organization went into effect) , and
an Australian officer the ground forces. 19
MacArthur's position was anomalous.
He commanded neither the Southwest
Pacific Area nor U.S. Army Forces in
Australia, but only USAFFE, which,
since Wainwright's assumption of com-
mand in the Philippines, consisted only
of the handful of officers he had brought
with him. Until he received official
authority, his control of. the forces in
Australia would be difficult and his rela-
tionship with the Australian Govern-
ment would have to be conducted on an
unofficial and informal basis. Despite
these handicaps, MacArthur quickly took
hold. By the end of the month he had
secured Brett's appointment as com-
mander of the air forces, which he had
found "in a most disorganized condi-
tion," placed American and Australian
ground combat forces under an "appro-
priate Australian general," and Ameri-
can service troops in USAFIA under
General Barnes. This arrangement, he
told Marshall, would "free the combat
echelons of all administrative, supply,
and political considerations, permit-

ting uninterrupted concentration on
combat." 20

Meanwhile the planners in Washing-
ton, spurred on by the necessity of reg-
ularizing MacArthur's position, were
drafting the directives and completing
their arrangements for the organization
of the Pacific theater. Though there
was no urgency in the Pacific Ocean
Area, the naval planners wished to estab-
lish both areas simultaneously. Failure
to do this, Admiral Turner thought,
might open the way for an Army effort
to enlarge the Southwest Pacific at the
expense of the South Pacific along the
lines laid down in the Army plan or
in the ANZAC proposals. The naval
planners feared also that the Army might
raise objections, if the opportunity arose,
to placing its forces under naval control.
Thus, on the 19th, Admiral Turner, the
chief naval planner, submitted to King
draft directives for the Southwest and
Pacific Ocean Areas with the recommen-
dation that both be acted on at the same
time. 21

At this point Admiral King departed
from the procedure usually followed in
such matters and instead of processing
the draft directives through the Joint
Chiefs' committees sent them directly to
General Marshall with the explanation
that he was doing so "in order to save
the time that might be lost through
possible prolonged discussions of the

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 739, 18 Mar 42,
OPD Exec Files.

M Rads, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 19, 24 Mar
4a ; Brett to Marshall, No. 79a, 21 Mar 4a; Marshall
to MacArthur, No. 791, 21 Mar 42; MacArthur to
Marshall, No. 3, 21 Mar 42; Marshall to MacArthur,
No. 8i, Z2 Mar 42, all in OPD Exec SWPA—
MacArthur File.

"Memos, Turner for King, 19 Mar 42; King for
Marshall, same date, sub: Command Areas in Pacific,
both cited in Hayes, The War Against Japan, ch. IV,
p. 25.

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

249

General MacArthur and Admiral

NlMITZ

Planning Staff." He and Marshall, King
suggested, should settle the problem
between themselves. 22 Apparently the
Army Chief of Staff passed these draft
directives to his own planners who found
little to object to and at the next meet-
ing of the Joint Chiefs on 30 March
they were accepted and forwarded to
the White House. Final approval by
the President was given on the last day
of the month. 28

The directives thus approved — they
were dated go March — established the
two Pacific areas, set their geographical
limits, named the commanders, and as-
signed their missions. MacArthur, as
expected, was appointed Supreme Com-

"Memo, King for Marshall, 20 Mar 42, sub: Pro-
posed Directives, cited in Hayes, The War Against
Japan, ch. IV, p. 26.

"Memos, Marshall and King for Pres, 30 Mar 42,
no sub; U.S. Secy CCS for Marshall and King, 1 Apr
42, both in ABC 323.31 (1-29-42 sec. 3) POA; Ming,
JCS Mtg, 30 Mar 42.

mander (a title he himself changed to
Commander in Chief) of the Southwest
Pacific Area; Admiral Nimitz, Com-
mander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas. 24
The boundaries of the two areas con-
formed to the earlier agreement: Mac-
Arthur's domain included Australia, the
Philippines, New Guinea, the Solomons,
the Bismarck Archipelago, and all of the
Netherlands Indies except Sumatra. Ad-
miral Nimitz' command, though it had
less land area, was even larger in extent
and encompassed the remainder of the
Pacific except for a broad band of ocean
off the coast of Central and South
America. 25 It was divided into three sub-
ordinate areas, two of them, the Central
and North Pacific, under Nimitz' direct
control, and the third, the South Pacific,
under a naval officer responsible to Nim-
itz. The dividing line between the first
two was at 42 ° north, thus placing
Hawaii, the Gilberts and Marshalls, the
Mandated Islands, and Japan itself in
the Central Pacific. The South Pacific
Area, which extended southward from
the equator, between the Southwest
Pacific and longitude 1 io° west, included
the all-important line of communications.

IWI

Unlike the ABDA Area, in which each
of the participating powers had equal
responsibility and representation, the
two areas established by the 30 March
directives were the exclusive responsi-
bility of the United States. The author-
ity granted the commanders under this
new arrangement was broader than that

"First designated in the singular, Pacific Ocean
Area.

"This band included the area east of the uoth
meridian, and south of latitude 11° north and was
designated the Southeast Pacific Area. It was under
separate command and never became an active
theater.

250

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

exercised by General Wavell, and they
were not bound by many of the restric-
tions that had limited the authority of
the ABDA commander. ABDACOM
had reported to the Combined Chiefs;
MacArthur and Nimitz reported to the
Joint Chiefs, which had jurisdiction over
operational strategy subject to the grand
strategy formulated by the Combined
Chiefs. In its relations with the Pacific
commanders, the Joint Chiefs would act
through the chiefs of each of the services
as executive agents, so that MacArthur
would receive his orders from Marshall,
Nimitz from King.

This organization, it should be noted,
did not establish a unified command for
the Pacific, but rather two separate area
commands. Control over the theater as
a whole was vested in the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, which became in effect the
directing headquarters for operations in
the Pacific. But that body lacked a
single head — except the President him-
self — and operated under a committee
rather than a staff system so that even
in Washington command was diffused
and decentralized and decisions on strat-
egy and theater-wide problems could be
reached only by debate and compromise.
Within the theater itself there was no
single authority which could choose be-
tween strategic plans, resolve the conflict-
ing claims of MacArthur and Nimitz for
troops and supplies, assign priorities,
shift forces from one area to another,
or concentrate the resources of both areas
against a single objective. Such an ar-
rangement complicated the problems of
war in the Pacific. It led to duplication
of effort and keen competition for the
limited supply of ships, landing craft,
and airplanes; and it placed on the Joint
Chiefs the heavy burden of decision in

many matters that could well have been
resolved by lesser officials.

Of all the faulty decisions of the war
[General MacArthur wrote] perhaps the
most unexplainable one was the failure to
unify the command in the Pacific. The
principle involved is perhaps the most fun-
damental one in the doctrine and tradition
of command. In this instance it did not
involve an international problem. It was
accepted and entirely successful in the other
great theaters. The failure to do so in the
Pacific cannot be defended in logic, in
theory or even in common sense. Other
motives must be ascribed. It resulted in
divided effort, the waste of diffusion and
duplication of force and the consequent
extension of the war with added casualties
and cost. The generally excellent coopera-
tion between the two commands in the
Pacific supported by the good will, good
nature and high professional qualifications
of the numerous personnel involved was no
substitute for the essential unity of direction
of centralized authority. 28

Though superficially alike, the direc-
tives to the Pacific commanders differed
in some fundamental respects. As
supreme commander in an area that
presumably would include large forces
of other governments, MacArthur, like
Wavell, was specifically enjoined from
directly commanding any national force
or interfering with its internal adminis-
tration. Nimitz was not thus restricted
for it was anticipated that his forces
would be mostly American and his oper-
ations more closely related to the fleet.
Thus, he was permitted to exercise direct
command of the forces in the North and
Central Pacific, and, through a subor-
dinate commander, those of the South
Pacific. Furthermore, he exercised direct
control of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC) ,
in which capacity he was directly respon-

"Ltr, MacArthur to Maj Gen Albert C. Smith,
Chief, Mil Hist, 5 Mar 1953, OCMH.

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

251

sible through naval channels to Admiral
King. Undoubtedly the difference in
the authority granted the two men, as
well as the wording of the tasks assigned
to each, was based partially on the Navy's
conviction that MacArthur had a limited
conception of the use of naval as well
as air power. If he was given command
of these forces, Turner told King, "I
believe that you will find the Supreme
Commander will tend to use . . . [them]
in a wrong manner, since he has shown
clearly unfamiliarity with proper naval
and air functions." 27

There were significant differences,
too, in the tasks assigned each of the
Pacific commanders. MacArthur's mis-
sion was mainly defensive and included
only the injunction to "prepare to take
the offensive." Combined with the state-
ment that he was to "hold the key mili-
tary regions of Australia as bases for
future offensive action against Japan,"
it was possible to derive from it, as
MacArthur quickly did, authorization
for offensive operations based on Aus-
tralia. This does not seem to have been
the intention of the Army planners in
Washington. At the time, they appar-
ently had no thought of opening such
an offensive, though the Navy did hope
to launch operations in the Southwest
Pacific, but not from Australia.

Admiral Nimitz' directive assigned a
defensive mission, too, but it clearly
envisaged offensive operations for the
future by instructing him to "prepare
for the execution of major amphibious
offensives against positions held by
Japan, the initial offensives to be
launched from the South Pacific Area

"Memo, Turner for King, 19 Mar 42, cited in
Hayes, The War Against Japan, ch. IV, p. 30.

and Southwest Pacific Area." 28 This
wording implied that Admiral Nimitz
would command not only the offensive
in his own area, but that in MacArthur's
area as well. And this may well have
been the intent of the naval planners
who drafted the directives, for in their
view all amphibious operations — and
any operation in the Pacific would be
amphibious — should be under naval
command. But the major offensive when
it came, the Navy believed, would be
across the Central Pacific along the route
marked out in the prewar Orange plan.

Presidential approval of the directives
to MacArthur and Nimitz did not con-
stitute authority for assumption of com-
mand. The other governments involved
would have to give their consent, too,
and in view of the difference between
the present version and the plan the
Australians and New Zealanders had pro-
posed, that consent might not be read-
ily granted. The British and the Dutch
raised the first objection, but it was a
minor one and was easily met by a
change in wording of the first paragraph
of the directives. Their approval was
won by the first week of April.

The objections of the Australians and
New Zealanders were not so easily met.
They were understandably dissatisfied
with the separation of the Dominions
and reiterated the arguments for a single
strategic entity incorporating their own
territory, the Fijis, and New Caledonia.
To this Admiral King replied, in a
memorandum for the President, that
"The defense of Australia is primarily
a land-air problem for which the best
possible naval support is a fleet free to
maneuver without restrictions imposed

a JCS Directive to CINCPOA, 30 Mar 42, ABC

323.31 (i-2g^2 sec. 1 B) POA.

252

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

by the local situation." New Zealand's
defense was primarily a naval problem,
and "has no relation," King insisted, "to
the defense of Australia." Though they
were not convinced, the Australians and
New Zealanders finally accepted this sep-
aration "because of the necessity of an
immediate decision." 29

But the Dominion governments had
other objections to the new organization.
They found no guarantee in the new
directive, they said, that their forces
would not be moved out of Australian
and New Zealand territory, or that the
local commanders would be able to com-
municate freely with their governments,
as had been the case in ABDACOM.
These arguments King answered — Mar-
shall was in London — by pointing out
that the actions of the Joint Chiefs were
subject to review by the President to
whom the governments involved had
recourse through diplomatic channels.
"The interests of the nations whose
forces or whose land possessions may be
involved in these military operations are
further safeguarded," Admiral King ex-
plained, "by the power each nation
retains to refuse the use of its forces
for any project which it considers inad-
visable." This statement apparently
settled the fears of the Australians. Ap-
proval of the directives followed not long
after and on 1 8 April General MacArthur
officially assumed command of the
Southwest Pacific Area. 30

"Memo, King for President, 5 Apr 42, CCS 57/z,
ABC 323.31 (1-29-42 sec. 2) POA; Hayes, The War
Against Japan, ch. IV, p. 331.

"General Order 1, GHQ SWPA, 18 Apr 42; Rad,
MacArthur to Marshall, No. 327, 18 Apr 42, CM— IN—
4719. The correspondence between the Dominion
governments and Admiral King, who acted for the
Joint Chiefs in Marshall's absence, is in ABC 323.31
(1-29-42 sec. 2) POA and CCS 381 (1-24-42 sec. 2).

The size of the area under Mac-
Arthur's command after 18 April can
perhaps be appreciated by superimpos-
ing a map of the United States over one
of the Southwest Pacific. Miami would
fall on Townsville and Seattle on Sara-
wak in Borneo; San Francisco would fall
in Java and New York on Rabaul.
Thus, the headquarters in Melbourne
would be equivalent to one in South
America directing operations against
Boston and New York, and planning
for an invasion against northwest
Canada.

The logistical difficulties in a theater
of this size and in this part of the world
were enormous. The line of communi-
cations to the United States (San Fran-
cisco to Sydney) , the main source of
supply, was over 4,000 miles long. This
fact combined with the scarcity of ships
constituted a major problem in the ship-
ment of men and supplies from the
United States, as well as within the
theater. Ports, bases, airfields, and roads
had to be carved out of jungle, and
there was rarely enough equipment and
men to do the job without extraordinary
measures. "Forced risks" and "crisis
management" were common parlance
among the logisticians in the theater.
Climate, terrain, and tropical diseases
were an ever-present factor in planning
and operations, imposing additional
burdens on the supply system.

It would take time to overcome these
difficulties but in the meantime General
MacArthur could begin to organize his
forces, provide for their administration
and supply, and plan for future opera-
tions. The Australian commanders had
been notified on the 17th that orders
issued by him were to be considered
"as emanating from the Commonwealth

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

253

Admiral Leary

Government," and MacArthur could
therefore formally establish the three
commands, Allied Land, Air, and Naval
Forces, which, with the existing Ameri-
can commands, USAFIA, USAFFE, and
Wainwright's USFIP in the Philippines,
constituted his entire force. General Sir
Thomas Blarney, recently returned from
the Middle East, became Commander,
Allied Land Forces; General Brett, Al-
lied Air Forces; and Admiral Leary,
Allied Naval Forces. All American units,
with the exception of certain air ele-
ments, were assigned to USAFIA, the
administrative and service agency for
U.S. Army forces, which on 20 July was
redesignated the U.S. Army Services of
Supply under the command of Brig. Gen.
Richard J. Marshall. But for operation-
al employment, all American ground
troops, soon to number two divisions,
as well as those of the Australians, who
contributed in addition to the militia

two more seasoned divisions from the
Middle East, came under General
Blarney. Similarly, General Brett and his
successor, Maj. Gen. George C. Kenney,
commanded the American, Australian,
and Dutch air elements and Admiral
Leary (soon succeeded by Rear Adm.
Arthur S. Carpender) the naval units
which included four cruisers, destroyers,
submarines, and auxiliary craft. 31

MacArthur organized his own head-
quarters, located initially in Melbourne,
along traditional U.S. Army lines.
(Chart 5) There was nothing in his
directive requiring him to appoint offi-
cers of the participating governments,
as General Wavell had been required
to do. General Marshall urged strongly
that he do so and the President indicated
that he would like to see Australian and
Dutch officers in high position on the
Supreme Commander's staff. 32 But Mac-
Arthur did not follow these suggestions
and the staff named on 19 April was
almost entirely American with a few
Australian and Dutch officers serving in
subordinate posts. The top positions
went to those USAFFE officers who had
come from Corregidor; Maj. Gen. Rich-
ard K. Sutherland, Chief of Staff; Brig.
Gen. Richard J. Marshall, Deputy Chief
of Staff; Col. Charles P. Stivers, G-i; Col.
Charles A. Willoughby, G-2; Brig. Gen.
Spencer B. Akin, Signal Officer; and
Brig. Gen. Hugh J. Casey, Engineer
Officer. The others came from the
USAFIA staff: Brig. Gen. Stephen J.
Chamberlin, G-g; Col. Lester J. Whit-

sl GO 1, GHQ SWPA, 18 Apr 42; Rads, MacArthur
to Marshall, Nos. 381 and 415, 20 Apr 42, OPD
MacArthur File.

3J Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 1178, 9 Apr 42,
CM-OUT-1495.

Chart 5 — Command Organization in the Pacific, July 1942

NAVY
DEPARTMENT

JOINT CHIEFS
OF STAFF

Pacific Ocean Areas

and Pacific Fleet

Adm Nimitz

WAR
DEPARTMENT

Southwest

Pacific Area

Gen MacArthur

Central

Pacific

Area

Adm Nimitz

South Pacific

Area

Adm Ghormley

Adm Halsey

(16 Oct)

Fleet Forces
Present

Adm Nimiti

Hawaiian
Department
Gen Emmons

Hawaiian
Sea Frontier
Adm Block

North Pacific

Area

Adm Theobald

South Pacific
Amphibious

Forces
Adm Turner

South Pgcifie

Naval Forces

Adm Ghormley

U.S. Army Forces
South Pacific
Gen Harmon

South Pacific

Air Forces
Adm McCain

TYPE
Commands

Southeast

Pacific
Area

Allied Naval

Forces
Adm Carpender

Allied Land

Forces

Gen Blarney, Aus.

Allied Air

Forces
Gen Kenney

U.S. Army Forces

in fhe

Philippines

(Inactive)

U.S. Army

Services of

Supply

Gen Marshall

U.S. Army Forces
Far East
(Inactive)

Fleet
Marine Force

TYPE Commands

Service Forces

Amphibious Forces

Submarine Forces

etc.

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

255

lock, G-4; and Col. Burdette M. Fitch,
Adjutant General. 33

The most serious problem confront-
ing MacArthur was the defense of Aus-
tralia. The Australian Chiefs of Staff,
recognizing the impossibility of defend-
ing so vast an area with their small force,
had in February decided to concentrate
their strength in the Brisbane-Melbourne
area, outposting the rest of the country
as well as the Northeast Area. 34 This
concept MacArthur later characterized
as passive and defeatist, strategically un-
sound and "fatal to every possibility of
ever assuming the offensive." 35 Speak-
ing at an off-the-record press conference
just one year after he had reached Aus-
tralia, he declared that within three days
of his arrival he had decided to scrap
the Australian concept and to adopt
instead an active defense far to the north
in New Guinea. There at Port Moresby
he would wage the battle for Australia
on ground of his own choosing and on
his own terms. This decision, in his view,
"was one of the most decisive as well as
one of the most radical and difficult
decisions of the war." 36

The Australians did not let Mac-
Arthur's characterization of their strat-
egy or his claim to omnipotence go
unchallenged. Their own plans, they
claimed, did make provision for the
defense of the forward area in New
Guinea and they had reinforced Port
Moresby to the fullest extent possible.
They could find no evidence, either,
that MacArthur had issued any direc-

tives or altered their troop dispositions
in such a way as to indicate any funda-
mental change in strategy at that time.
The change that was made came later,
they claimed, and was made possible
by the arrival of reinforcements from
the Middle East and the United States.
All these considerations John Curtin,
the Australian Prime Minister, called
to MacArthur's attention after the press
conference of March 1943, but Mac-
Arthur again asserted flatly, "It was
never my intention to defend Australia
on the mainland of Australia. That was
the plan when I arrived, but to which

1 never subscribed and which I imme-
diately changed to a plan to defend
Australia in New Guinea." 37

Whether the matter was as represented
by MacArthur or by Curtin, the fact was
that the forces required to put into effect
an active defense in New Guinea were
simply not available in April 1942. Mac-
Arthur's naval force was small and un-
balanced and lacked aircraft carriers.
The only combat troops he had were the
41st U.S. and two Australian divisions
(less two brigades in Ceylon) ; the 32d
Division was not due until May. And
although he had 17 Australian air squad-
rons and American units consisting of

2 heavy and 2 medium bomber groups
and 3 fighter groups (not all of them
had yet arrived) , his air component was
below standard in organization and
training. But all his efforts to secure
more at that time were unavailing, and
it was with this force that MacArthur

"GO a, GHQ SWPA, 19 Apr 4a.

34 Australian Chiefs of Staff, Appreciation, 27 Feb
42, G-3 Jnl, GHQ SWPA.

M Ltr, MacArthur to Smith, response to question
by the author, 5 Mar 53, OCMH.

^Ibid; Ltr, Curtin to Blarney, 16 Nov 43, copy in
OCMH.

3, Ltrs, MacArthur to Curtin, 6 Nov 43; Curtin to
Blarney, 16 Nov 43; Blarney to Curtin, 28 Jan 44;
Rowell to Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward, Chief, Mil Hist,
6 Apr 51, all in OCMH; Milner, Victory in Papua,
|pp. 24— gq;| McCarthy, Southwest Pacific Area— First
Year, pp. 25-33.

256

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

in April made preparations to hold Port
Moresby. 38

The organization of the forces of the
Pacific Ocean Areas, where Admiral
Nimitz assumed command on 8 May,
was far more complicated than in the
neighboring theater. Already in the area
was the old prewar Army command, the
Hawaiian Department, whose primary
responsibility was the defense of Oahu,
and especially the Pearl Harbor base of
the Pacific Fleet. The unified command
established on 17 December 1941, ten
days after the Japanese attack, was lim-
ited to the Hawaiian area and did not
include the chain of islands which had
since been garrisoned by Army forces.
In the absence of any other Army com-
mand, responsibility for the supply and
administration of some of these island
garrisons had fallen on General Emmons,
the Hawaiian Department commander.
But he did not have the broad authority
that his naval colleagues had at the time
for the control of forces along the line of
communications.

As Commander in Chief, Pacific
Ocean Areas (CINCPOA) , Admiral
Nimitz exercised considerably more di-
rect control over his forces than did Gen-
eral MacArthur in the Southwest Pacific.
In addition to his command of the Pa-
cific Fleet, he also commanded directly
two of the three areas established in the
30 March directives. (Later he relin-
quished personal command of the North
Pacific.) Like MacArthur, he was pro-
hibited from interfering in the internal
administration of the forces in his thea-
ter, but as a fleet commander he remained
responsible for naval administration as

"The Campaigns of MacArthur in the Pacific,
SWPA Series, I, p. 40; McCarthy, Southwest Pacific
Area— First Year, p. 8a.

well as operations. He was thus answera-
ble to himself in several capacities and
it was not always clear whether he was
acting as area commander, fleet com-
mander, or theater commander responsi-
ble to the Joint Chiefs in Washington.
This fact and the failure to define pre-
cisely the relationship between Admiral
Nimitz and General Emmons led to the
numerous misunderstandings that
marked Army and Navy operations in
that area during the war.

The South Pacific Area

Of the three subordinate areas of
Admiral Nimitz' command the one whose
organization presented the greatest prob-
lem was the South Pacific where the Al-
lied offensive would come first. Admiral
Ghormley, who was in London when he
received his appointment as Commander,
South Pacific Area (COMSOPAC) , on
13 April, did not assume command for
two months although he arrived in
Auckland, New Zealand, the site of his
new headquarters, on 21 May. On the
way out, he had stopped in Washington
where King told him that his was "a
most difficult task" and that the offensive
against Japan would probably start from
the South Pacific "possibly this fall." 39
His next stop was Pearl Harbor, where he
stayed for a week to confer with Nimitz
and his staff. There he was told again
to prepare for an amphibious offensive
and met his air commander, Rear Adm.
John R. McCain. His command, Nimitz
told him, would include all the garrisons
already in the area (about 60,000 Army
troops plus three fighter and two medium
bombardment groups) , the remnants of

"Morison, Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine
Actions, p. 451.

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

257

the ANZAC naval force, a marine divi-
sion already en route to New Zealand,
plus whatever forces might be allocated
by the United Nations. Exempted were
those forces concerned with the land
defense of New Zealand, a task that
remained a responsibility of the New
Zealand Chiefs of Staff. 40

Ghormley's organization closely par-
alleled Admiral Nimitz'. Retaining for
himself control of all naval units in the
area and of their administration as well,
he exercised command through a staff
that was essentially naval. Of 103 officers
assigned in September 1942 only three
wore the Army uniform. Thus his head-
quarters became the center for naval
administration as well as joint operations
and planning. He quickly established
air, amphibious, and service commands,
all under naval officers and predomi-
nantly naval staffs, but not a ground
command, as General MacArthur had
done. Instead, his own headquarters did
the planning for and retained control of
Army and Marine Corps elements in the
theater.

The amphibious command was organ-
ized on 18 July and the Navy gave
Ghormley one of its ablest — and most
contentious — officers, Admiral Turner,
chief of the War Plans Division, to com-
mand it. All air units in the theater
were under Admiral McCain, soon to be
replaced by Rear Adm. Aubrey W.
Fitch. His responsibilities included not
only operational control of all aircraft,
but training and indoctrination as well.
It was this latter responsibility that was
to cause so much difficulty.

The first logistical agency for the South
Pacific was the Service Force in New

"Unless otherwise noted this section is based on
/list of USAFISPA.

Zealand, but on his arrival Ghormley
established the Service Squadron, South
Pacific. Charged with responsibility for
the procurement and delivery of all
supplies in the theater, except those
exempted from naval control, this head-
quarters quickly took charge of the trans-
portation and base facilities of the Navy
and Marine Corps in the area under a
logistical plan issued on 15 July. As the
highest supply agency in the South Pa-
cific, Service Squadron co-ordinated all
service organizations in the theater, con-
trolled all ships and shipping, distributed
all supplies obtained locally, designated
ports of call, and established priorities.

The establishment of the South Pacific
coincided with the opening of offensive
operations and made more urgent the
solution of the problems presented by
the absence of a comparable Army com-
mand. There were Army troops in New
Zealand, New Caledonia, Efate and
Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides, the
Fijis, Tongatabu, and Bora Bora. These
troops had been rushed out so quickly
that there had been no opportunity to
perfect arrangements for their support
and control. Some commanders, like
General Patch, were responsible directly
to the War Department; others, to Gen-
eral Emmons in Hawaii. Administration
therefore was complicated and command
confused. Moreover the supply of these
forces was cumbersome and inefficient
with responsibility divided among the
San Francisco Port of Embarkation,
USAFIA, and the Hawaiian Department.
Complicating the situation even more
was the fact that responsibility for the
airfields along the line of communica-
tions belonged to General Emmons, so
that a base commander might report
directly to the War Department, get his

258

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Admiral Ghormley

Admiral McCain

supplies from the San Francisco port,
and take his orders for airfield construc-
tion, possibly his most important task,
from General Emmons.

Allocation of aircraft to the South
Pacific Area constituted another major
problem. Admiral King and his naval
planners had long argued for heavy
bombers in the area, contending that
B-17's in Hawaii and Australia could
not meet the threat of invasion along the
line of communications. The army and
air planners, backed by Presidential
authority, had firmly resisted demands
for a South Pacific heavy bombardment
force as well as an increase in the air
units already authorized, arguing for the
same mobility for aircraft that the Navy
insisted on for warships. Though the

Navy lost the argument it did get a
group of heavy bombers— the xith
Bombardment Group — for the South
Pacific late in June by an arrangement
which established an Hawaiian Mobile
Air Force of B-17's that could be used
anywhere in the Pacific subject to
approval by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The assignment of the Army Air
Forces' most precious weapon, the B-17,
to the South Pacific brought into sharp
focus the question of control of aircraft.
The area command, despite its theoreti-
cally joint character, was naval and the
air commander was a naval officer.
Army aircraft thus came under naval
control for operations, a fact that could
not be avoided, distasteful as it may
have been to the airmen. But when in

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

259

Admiral Fitch

Admiral Turner

became apparent that Admiral McCain
would also be responsible for the train-
ing and indoctrination of Army air units,
the air planners expressed strong objec-
tions. Their forces, they felt, should
retain their identity, be assigned appro-
priate missions, and execute them under
their own commanders in accordance
with Army Air Forces doctrine. Under
no circumstances, they insisted, should
air units be integrated into a naval force
ind commanded by naval officers. 41

While this debate was in progress, the
problem of administration and supply

"Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, eds.,
."he Pacific — Guadalcanal to Saipan: August 1942 to
uly i<)44, vo '- IV, "The Army Air Forces in World

War II" (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1050),

pp. 39-30.

was becoming more acute. Admiral
King's proposal on 10 April that a
Marine officer be appointed as com-
mander of the South Pacific bases and a
joint supply organization established to
take over responsibility for their logistic
support only precipitated another disa-
greement between the Army and Navy.
The idea of a separate commander for
all the bases was rejected, but the pro-
posal for an interservice logistical organ-
ization was the subject of discussions
throughout April and May. The Navy
favored a joint organization to supply all
forces in the South Pacific on the ground
that this arrangement would result in
the greatest economy in shipping and
avoid duplication of effort. This organi-
zation would function in the theater

260

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

under the Service Squadron in the South
Pacific and in San Francisco under a
comparable naval headquarters. The
Army, fearing naval control over Army
supplies, opposed this proposal and in-
sisted on parallel Army and Navy supply
organizations. "We have so dominant an
interest . . . ," wrote Maj. Gen. Brehon
B. Somervell, "so clear a responsibility
in the supply of our large forces; we
must definitely control the means." 42
Agreement proved impossible and all that
remained of the proposal when the de-
bate ended was a joint purchasing office
for local procurement in New Zealand.

Another solution to the problem of
administration and supply was that rec-
ommended by General Emmons who
wanted an Army commander for the
South Pacific, stationed in the Fijis and
subordinate to him, to co-ordinate the
operations, supply, and maintenance of
Army forces in that area. 43 A month
later, when the War Department had still
failed to act on his proposal, Emmons
asked for a clarification of his responsi-
bilities, pointing out that confusion was
resulting from the conflicting requests
he was receiving from the base com-
manders. The clarification was not long
in coming for already the War Depart-
ment had decided to establish a separate
Army command in the South Pacific, but
along different lines from those suggested
by Emmons. 44

The solution arrived at in Washington
was designed as much to meet the prob-
lem of the control of Army aircraft as it
was to create a more orderly system of

"Cited in Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics
and Strategy, p. 189.

" 3 Ltr, Emmons to Marshall, 20 May 42, sub: Army
Com in South Pacific OPD 384 PTO case 18.

4a Rad, Emmons to TAG, 27 Jun 42, CM— IN— 9002;
Marshall to Emmons, 4 Jul 42, CM-OUT— 1179.

supply and administration. At the same
time that the B-17's had been sent to the
South Pacific the Army had decided to
appoint an air officer as commander of
all Army forces placed under Ghormley.
This arrangement had been worked out,
apparently, between General Eisenhower
and Maj. Gen. Millard F. Harmon, Chief
of Air Staff. After certain modifications,
Admiral King finally accepted this ar-
rangement on 2 July and five days later
the new command, U.S. Army Forces
in the South Pacific Area, was created.
Harmon himself was the officer Marshall
selected for this new and difficult
assignment. 45

General Marshall's instructions to
Harmon were detailed and specific. His
first task was to take over the administra-
tion and training of all U.S. ground and
air troops in the South Pacific, and sec-
ondarily to assist Ghormley in the prep-
aration and execution of plans then
under consideration for the employment
of Army forces. On his arrival in the
theater, Marshall instructed, Harmon
was to inspect the Army bases in the area
and submit to Washington recommenda-
tions for "the rearrangement, reduction
or augmentation of the personnel and
materiel . . . with a view to establishing
a balanced, cohesive and efficient Army
contingent." 48 This done he would take
over responsibility for the logistic sup-
port of the Army bases in the area,
utilizing to the full local resources.
Through COMSOPAC he would pro-
cure whatever he could from the Joint

"Relevant Papers, all of which the author con-
sulted, are filed in OPD 384 PTO case 18 and art
listed in Matloffi and Snell, Strategic Planning,

i94*-4* < P- 2 6 5-

w Ltr, Marshall to Harmon, 7 Jul 42, sub: Instruc
tion to CG USAFISPA, with amendment dated 11
Jul 42, OPD 384 PTO case 18.

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

261

Purchasing Board, established by Ghorm-
ley in June 1942 and consisting of three
American officers — one from each of the
services. Other supplies, except for
petroleum products, which were a naval
responsibility, he would procure from
the San Francisco port. 47

Unlike Ghormley, General Harmon
had no operational control over his
forces. Though he did later acquire such
command it was by delegation from
COMSOPAC, for limited periods and
for specific purposes. His instructions,
too, limited his authority. They lacked,
he later said, "simplicity and directness,"
and by particularizing his duties had the
effect of restricting his command. He
had no power over the employment of
Army forces, and could only plead his
instructions to assist COMSOPAC in the
preparation and execution of plans as
authority for a voice in the discussions
and decisions involving Army and Air
Force units. So vague was this provision,
that he commented to a Washington col-
league later that "anyone could interpret
[it] in any way they desired." 48 His own
interpretation was as broad as he could
make it, with the result that he played a
far more active role in operations than
was ever intended.

Many of the officers General Harmon
chose for his staff were highly trained
airmen whose selection reflected the War
Department's intention that the new
headquarters would uphold the Army
Air Forces' interests in this predomi-
nantly naval area. His chief of staff was
Brig. Gen. Nathan F. Twining, later to
become commander of the Thirteenth

■"See Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and
Strategy, pp. 190-92.

*Ltr, Harmon to Handy, 4 Nov 43, copy in
OCMH.

Air Force; his supply officer, Col. Robert
G. Breene; his operations officers Cols.
Frank F. Everest, Dean C. Strother, and
Thomas D. Roberts; and his Signal offi-
cer, Col. Francis T. Ankenbrandt. On
16 July these men left Washington by
air. After a brief stopover in San Fran-
cisco, where they met General Kenney,
on his way to Australia to replace Gen-
eral Brett, they reached Hawaii on the
22d and Suva in the Fijis on the 26th.
From there Kenney reported to Admiral
Ghormley and assumed command of U.S.
Army forces in the area by radio. His
headquarters, he announced, would be
in Noumea, capital city of New Caledo-
nia. Until he could issue further instruc-
tions on administration and supply,
Harmon told the Army commanders,
they were to handle such matters as
before.

The headquarters in New Caledonia
was opened on 29 July. Already Admiral
McCain was established there and
Ghormley soon moved his own head-
quarters, located aboard the USS Ar-
gonne, to the port of Noumea. Thus,
the major Army and Navy headquarters
were quickly brought together so that a
close working relationship could be
established. "There has been no sugges-
tion of any lack of harmony," General
Harmon told Arnold. "Neither Ghorm-
ley or McCain are inclined to demand
or suggest tasks beyond the capabilities
of our units and freely consult unit com-
manders and members of my staff on
matters of technique. . . . All commands,
forces, and units in this area are working
full out, and in full accord to the com-
mon end; and this relationship will be
preserved." 49

4B Ltr, Harmon to Arnold, 5 Aug 42, copy in
OCMH.

262

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The logistical problems that faced
General Harmon were, like those of
other commanders in the Pacific, per-
haps the most difficult. His command
covered a tremendous area, over one
million square miles, practically all of it
ocean. The most distant bases were 3,000
miles apart. Unlike a continental thea-
ter of operations with debarkation facili-
ties, road nets, and railways, the South
Pacific had almost no communications
or developed industrial facilities except
in New Zealand. Harbors and docks
were scarce. In the entire area there were
only four ports, Auckland, Wellington,
Suva, and Noumea, with usable terminal
installations, and of these only the first
was adequate to support a major military
effort. Before any of these ports could
accommodate large shipments of troops
and supplies it would be necessary to
enlarge and improve harbors, docks, and
warehouses. Roads and the other re-
quirements for a large supply base were
nonexistent or entirely inadequate. To
add to this difficulty, Harmon had to
impose order on an already complicated
and confusing situation and deal with
a naval supply organization which per-
formed many of the functions his own
would. "Our own Army logistic prob-
lem," he explained to Marshall, "is
sufficiently difficult in itself. The one of
coordination with the Navy to avoid
duplication, economize on transporta-
tion and insure availability of surpluses
in one service to meet deficiencies of the
other is doubly so." 50 He had been in
the area only a month when he told a
Washington colleague that "logistics is

still, and for a long time will be in a
muddle." 51

It was not until 15 October, about two
and one-half months after his arrival,
that General Harmon assumed responsi-
bility for supply and administration of
Army forces in the South Pacific. 52 This
responsibility he delegated to a Service
Command headed by his G-4, Colonel
Breene, soon to be promoted to brigadier
general, thus leaving himself free to con-
centrate on operational matters. All Army
commanders were instructed to send
their requisitions as well as all reports
and requests, to the new headquarters,
soon reorganized and redesignated the
Services of Supply, where they would be
consolidated and forwarded to Washing-
ton. In this way central control and
standard procedure for all Army units
in the area were established for the first
time.

Harmon's control of Army air units
in the South Pacific was less direct. From
the outset he insisted, as did his superiors
in Washington, that their administra-
tion, supply, and training were his re-
sponsibility, though Admiral McCain
exercised operational control. Moreover,
even in operations he did not concede
that McCain's control was complete. It
was his responsibility, he asserted, to see
that the Army's aircraft were employed
in a way that was consistent with doc-
trines and techniques of the Air Forces.
Very early he came to the conclusion
that this could only be achieved by a
centralized Army air organization for the
South Pacific. Failure to create such an
organization, he told General Arnold,
would soon place the Army "in the posi-

w Ltr,
OCMH.

Harmon to Marshall, g Sep 42, copy in

" LtT, Harmon to Brig Gen St. Clair Streett, 27
Aug 42, copy in OCMH.
M GO 6F, Hq USAFISPA, 15 Oct 42.

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE PACIFIC

263

tion of being unable to refute an asser-
tion to the effect: "You do not have in
the Army any senior officer with opera-
tional experience of large Air Forces in
this type of warfare." 53 The organiza-
tion Harmon wanted was finally estab-
lished in January 1943 when the
Thirteenth Air Force was activated, but
already the major issue had been
resolved.

Almost the first problem Harmon
raised with Admiral Ghormley when he
reached Noumea was that of Army con-
trol over the operations of the B-17's
and B-26's based on Efate and Espiritu
Santo. The solution worked out during
several conferences with Ghormley and
McCain late in July gave to Harmon
responsibility for the training and indoc-
trination of Army air units, but left to
McCain the formulation of doctrine for
the employment of aircraft and their

M Ltr, Harmon to Arnold, 12 Oct 4a, copy in
OCMH.

assignment to operations. In routine
operations such as patrolling, the air-
craft were to be controlled by the base
commander through his air officer, who
might be an Army or Navy officer. But
the missions and objectives were to be
assigned by McCain. In short, General
Harmon received, in large measure,
supervision over the administration of
Army air units as well as control over
their employment in normal and routine
situations. But he had little to say in
their assignment, the strategy that dic-
tated their employment, and the organi-
zation under which they would operate.
By the time these problems had been
solved and the organization of the South
Pacific worked out, the forces in the area
were already engaged in offensive opera-
tions. These operations had been made
possible by a series of naval battles
which had turned the balance in the
Pacific and given the initiative for the
first time since 7 December to the Allies.

CHAPTER XII

Transition

There are only three principles of warfare— Audacity, Audacity, and
AUDACITY.

General Patton

The story of the first four months of
the war in the Pacific was one of unre-
lieved tragedy and disaster. Everywhere,
from Hawaii to Burma, the Allies had
suffered humiliation and defeat at the
hands of a foe who seemed almost super-
human, able to traverse unbelievable
distances and impossible terrain on a
handful of rice and quick to take advan-
tage of every Allied weakness. Only in
the Philippines, where American and
Filipino forces still held out, had the
implacable foe been thwarted, and even
there the end was clearly in sight.

But the next two months of 1942
would tell a different story. Already the
tide of Japanese victory was receding as
the Allies recovered from their momen-
tary confusion and sought to overcome
their initial weakness. In April the raid
came against Tokyo, a fitting retaliation
for Pearl Harbor and the first good news
the American public had had in four
months of war. Next month the Allies
struck another blow in the Coral Sea
to give pause to the overconfident and
jubilant Japanese. Finally, early in June,
came the great American naval victory
off Midway, which marked the turning
point of the war and made possible the
offensives that followed later in the year.

During these months the only dark
spot in an otherwise brightening scene
was the loss of the Philippines and the
tragic fate of its gallant defenders. But
this isolated victory had little strategic
significance for the Japanese who in two
brief and bitter months had seen the
initiative they had thought so firmly in
their hands slip away from them. The
sunshine-filled days of victory had indeed
been short.

The Fall of the Philippines

When Wainwright moved to Corregi-
dor to take over MacArthur's post on 2 1
March, the lull which had settled over
the Bataan battlefield in mid-February
was already coming to an end. Since
8 February when he had abandoned his
fruitless attempts to reduce the Bataan
defenses, General Homma had received
large reinforcements, almost two divi-
sions as well as artillery, aircraft, and
individual replacements. By the end of
March his plans were ready and most of
his troops in position to attack. But
before he gave the signal he offered
Wainwright one last chance to surrender,
urging him to be sensible and follow
"the defenders of Hongkong, Singapore,

TRANSITION

265

and the Netherlands East Indies in the
acceptance of an honorable defeat." 1
Wainright did not even reply to this
message, and on 3 April, Good Friday,
after almost two weeks of intensive air
and artillery attacks, the final Japanese
offensive began.

From the start the attack went well
for General Homma who, on the basis
of his earlier disappointments, was pre-
pared for the worst. The 80,000 Amer-
icans and Filipinos crowded into the
southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula
were too weak from hunger, their com-
bat efficiency too low to withstand the
ferocity of the Japanese attack. In short
order Homma's forces pierced the cen-
ter of the American line, outflanked the
defenders, and forced them back from
the main line of resistance. By the night
of the 8th, General King's Luzon Force
had virtually disintegrated. Philippine
Army troops were in complete rout and
units were melting away "lock, stock,
and barrel." Headquarters had lost con-
tact with the front-line troops and the
roads were jammed with soldiers who
had abandoned arms and equipment in
their frantic haste to escape. Three
months of malnutrition, malaria, and
intestinal infections had left the Amer-
icans and Filipinos weak and disease-
ridden, totally incapable of the sustained
physical effort necessary for a successful
defense. There was nothing for General
King to do but surrender.

The battle for Bataan was ended; the
fighting was over. The men who had
survived the long ordeal could feel just-

ly proud of their accomplishment. For
three months they had held off the
Japanese, only to be overwhelmed fin-
ally by disease and starvation. In a very
real sense they had suffered "a true
medical defeat." 2

The events that followed General
King's surrender present a confused and
chaotic story of the disintegration and
dissolution of a starved, diseased, and
beaten army, a story climaxed by the
horrors and atrocities of the infamous
Death March. Denied food and water,
robbed of their personal possessions,
forced to march under the hot sun and
halt in areas where even the most primi-
tive sanitary facilities were lacking,
clubbed, beaten, and bayoneted by their
Japanese conquerors, General King's
men made their way into captivity. Gal-
lant foes and brave soldiers, the battling
bastards of Bataan had earned the right
to be treated with consideration and de-
cency, but their enemies had reserved
for them even greater privations and
deeper humiliation than any they had
yet suffered. 3

Though the fall of Bataan ended all
organized opposition on Luzon, it did
not give the Japanese the most valuable
prize of all, Manila Bay. So long as Cor-
regidor and its sister forts lying across
the entrance to the bay remained in
American hands, the use of the finest
natural harbor in the Orient was denied
them. And before General Homma
could report to his already impatient
superiors in Tokyo that he had accom-

l The text of the surrender message is in the exhib-
its of the trial of General Homma, Prosecution ex-
hibit 421. This section is based on Morton, Fall of
the Philippines, \ch. XXHI-XXXH. |

'Rpt, Luzon Force Surgeon to CG, Luzon Force,
30 Jun 42, sub: Medical Aspects of the Surrender,
copy in OCMH.

3 For an account of the Death March, see Stanley
L. Falk, Bataan: The March of Death (New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 1962).

266

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

plished his mission, he would also have
to occupy Mindanao to the south as well
as the more important islands in the
Visayan group in the central Philippines,

It took the Japanese another month
to accomplish these tasks. While his
troops were making ready for the as-
sault on Corregidor, General Homma
launched the offensive in the south. On
ig April a detachment recently arrived
from Borneo took Cebu in the Visayas
and next day another from Malaya occu-
pied the neighboring island of Panay.
Both detachments then joined the one
at Davao to begin the campaign on Min-
danao. In a concerted drive beginning
on 29 April, the Emperor's birthday,
the Japanese advanced rapidly on all
fronts and within a week had virtually
gained control of the island. "North
front in full retreat," reported General
Sharp. "Enemy comes through right
flank. Nothing further can be done.
May sign off any time now."*

Meanwhile the Japanese had turned
their attention to Corregidor. With the
southern tip of Bataan in their posses-
sion they could now emplace artillery on
the heights of the Mariveles Mountains
and along the Manila Bay shore, only
two miles across the channel from the
island fortress. By thus massing their
artillery they were able to pour on Cor-
regidor so steady and heavy a volume of
fire that the intermittent air attacks of
the preceding three months paled into
insignificance. "One day's shelling," re-
marked one officer, "did more damage
than all the bombing put together." 5

For twenty-seven days, from 9 April
to 6 May, this bombardment continued,
increasing in intensity as the days went
by. By the evening of 5 May there was
little left on the island to stop the Japa-
nese. The beach defenses had been
demolished, the huge seacoast guns si-
lenced, and the antiaircraft batteries
reduced to impotence. All wire com-
munication had been destroyed and ev-
ery effort to restore it unavailing. "Com-
mand," observed General Moore, "could
be exercised and intelligence obtained
only by use of foot messengers."

Even the topography of the island had
changed. Where once there had been
thick woods and dense vegetation only
charred stumps remained. The rocky
ground had been pulverized into a fine
dust, and the coastal road had been liter-
ally blown into the bay. Deep craters,
empty shell cases, and huge fragments
of concrete pockmarked the landscape.
Gone were the broad lawns, impressive
parade grounds, spacious barracks, and
pleasant shaded clubs and bungalows of
peacetime. By 5 May Corregidor lay
"scorched, gaunt, and leafless, covered
with the chocolate dust of countless
explosions." 7

By this time the 10,000 men on Cor-
regidor — soldiers, marines, and sailors
alike — knew that a Japanese assault was
imminent. "It took no mental giant,"
as Wainwright observed, "to figure out
by May 5, 1942, that the enemy was
ready to come against Corregidor." 8 And
most of the men knew as well as their
commander that they stood little chance.

4 Rad, Sharp to MacArthur, 9 May 42 GHQ SWPA
G-3 Jnl, Phil Is, Opns Rpts.

"The Siege of Corregidor, Mil Rpts on UN, No. 12,
ig Nov 43, p. 50, MID WD.

*Rpt of Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic
Bays, an. 8, USAFFE USFIP Rpt of Opns, p. 72.

'Maude R. Williams, The Last Days of Corregidor,
supp. p. 1, typescript diary in OCMH.

'Wainwright, General Wainwright's Story, p. 114.

TRANSITION

267

There had been six hundred casualties
since 9 April, and those who escaped in-
jury were beginning to feel the effects
of malnutrition. Men were living on
nerve alone, and morale was dropping
rapidly. All hopes for reinforcement
had long since disappeared. There was
only enough water to last four more days
at most and no prospect that the pipes
and pumps for the artesian wells could
be repaired. In any event, the power
plant on which the Corregidor garrison
was entirely dependent would not last
more than a few weeks.

Life in Malinta Tunnel, where those
who could had taken refuge, had become
almost unbearable. Dust, dirt, great
black flies, and vermin were everywhere,
and over everything hung the odor of
the hospital and men's bodies. On the
haggard faces of the men could be seen
the effects of the continuous bombard-
ment. There was a limit to human en-
durance and that limit, General Wain-
wright told the President, "has long
since been passed." 9

The long-awaited and dreaded attack
came late on the night of 5 May, after
a particularly intense artillery concen-
tration on the tail of the tadpole-shaped
island. The full moon, "veiled by
streaks of heavy black clouds," was just
rising when, shortly before midnight,
Japanese artillery fire suddenly ceased,
and its bass roar was replaced "by the
:reble chattering of many small arms." 10
3arges were observed approaching the
:ail (east) end of the island, and at 2230
he order went out to prepare for a
lostile landing. A few minutes later a

runner from the beach defense com-
mand post arrived at Moore's headquar-
ters in Malinta Tunnel with the news
that the Japanese had landed.

The fight for Corregidor lasted only
ten hours. Though the Japanese suf-
fered heavy losses during the landing
and came ashore in the wrong place, they
recovered quickly. One group cut across
the tail of the island while the bulk of
the Japanese turned west, advancing in
the darkness along the axis of the island
toward Malinta Tunnel. At Battery
Denver on a ridge near the east entrance
of the tunnel, the Japanese ran into the
first serious opposition and it was there
that most of the fighting took place that
night and during the early hours of the
morning. The defenders threw every-
thing they had into the battle, including
coast artillery men and a provisional
battalion of 500 sailors, but their efforts
were doomed to failure. Finally, at 0800,
after the Japanese had brought tanks
and artillery ashore for a concerted at-
tack, General Wainwright committed his
last reserves.

The final blow came soon after when
the Japanese sent three tanks into the
action. The first appearance of armor
on the front panicked the defenders and
caused some to bolt to-the rear. It took
the combined efforts of commissioned
and noncommissioned officers to calm
the troops and prevent a rout. "The ef-
fect of the tanks," the Japanese noted
with satisfaction, "was more than had
been anticipated." 11

By 1000 on the morning of 6 May the
situation of the American troops on Cor-

"Ibid., pp. 122-23.

10 Maj John McM. Gulick, Memoirs of Btry C, 91st
'A (PS), p. 188, copy in OCMH.

"Statement of Col Yoshida, 9 Feb 50, ATIS Doc
G2644, Statements of Japanese Officials on World
War II, GHQ FEC, IV 553-57, OCMH.

268

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

regidor was critical. The troops on the
front line, pinned down by machine gun
and artillery fire, could move neither
forward nor back and had no weapons
with which to meet the tanks. Already
between 600 and 800 men had been
killed and about 1,000 more wounded.
All reserves had been committed and
practically all the guns destroyed. The
Japanese were apparently preparing for
another landing at the opposite end of
the island, and, in any case, would reach
Malinta Tunnel with its 1,000 wounded
men in a few hours. When they did
there would be a wholesale slaughter.

It was on this basis that General Wain-
wright made his decision to surrender, to
trade one day of freedom for several
thousand lives. By 1200, all arms larger
than .45-caliber were destroyed, codes
and radio equipment smashed, classified
papers burned, and the surrender mes-
sage broadcast in English and Japanese.
At that time, the American flag on Cor-
regidor was lowered and burned and
the white flag hoisted. "With broken
heart and head bowed in sadness but
not in shame," Wainwright wrote the
President, "I report . . . that today I must
arrange terms for the surrender of the
fortified islands of Manila Bay. . . . With
profound regret and with continued
pride in my gallant troops, I go to meet
the Japanese commander." 12 The five-
month-long struggle for control of the
Philippine Archipelago was over; the
victory which Homma had hoped to win
by the middle of February was finally
his, three months later. It was a victory
without honor and for this delay and

13 Rad, Wainwright to Roosevelt, 6 May 42. A copy
of this message is reproduced in Wainwright, General
Wainurright's Story, pp. ias_ag.

General Wainwright broadcasts sur-
render instructions.

loss of face Homma was relieved of com-
mand and spent the rest of the war on
the side lines, as an officer on inactive
status.

In the context of global war, the
Philippines did not in mid-ig42 possess
great strategic significance. The Japa-
nese tide had already swept around the
islands and over Southeast Asia and the
Indies, through the Bismarck Archipel-
ago into the Solomons and New Guinea,
and eastward across the Pacific as far a^
the Gilbert Islands. Only in the Philip-
pines had the enemy been halted, anc
in this successful though hopeless re
sistance lay the real importance of tfu
bitter defense. It demonstrated that tlu
Japanese were not invincible, and tha
they could be stopped by determinec
men, ably led. For an Allied work
surfeited on gloom, defeat, and despair
the epic of Bataan and Corregidor wa

TRANSITION

269

a symbol of hope and a beacon of success
for the future.

The Tokyo Raid

To balance the bad news of the loss
of the Philippines, the American public
could look back with satisfaction to the
recent announcement of the spectacular
raid against Tokyo on 18 April. Con-
ceived during the dark days of January
as a retaliation for Pearl Harbor, this
bold strike, coming only nine days after
the surrender of Bataan, was a powerful
boost to morale at home and a grim
warning of American determination to
carry the war into the enemy's territory.

The idea for the raid is credited vari-
ously to the President, to Stanley K.
Hornbeck of the State Department, and
to others. Apparently it was first con-
sidered seriously in the Navy Department
by Capt. Francis L. Low, Admiral King's
operations officer, and King in January
1942. The problem, King and Low
agreed, was to get planes within striking
distance of Tokyo Bay without putting
the carriers within range of the enemy's
air and naval defenses. This meant the
launching position would have to be at
least 500 miles off the Japanese coast.
Where would the planes put down after
the attack? Certainly the aircraft carriers
would not be able to await their return.
Vladivostok was only 600 miles from
Tokyo, but the Soviet authorities would
not provide a haven for the American
fliers for fear of risking hostilities with
Japan. They would have to land some-
where in eastern China, thus adding
1,500 miles to the minimum of 500 re-
quired to reach Tokyo. Only the Army
Air Forces could provide a plane with
the range and bomb load required. But

would army bombers be able to take off
from aircraft carriers? 13 Obviously the
Army Air Forces would have to study
the problem.

General Arnold, when the idea was pre-
sented to him, was enthusiastic. While
Capt. Donald B. Duncan, King's air op-
erations officer, worked out the naval
details of the plan, Arnold's staff studied
the air problems presented by this dar-
ing scheme. The first task was to select
an airplane that would meet the require-
ments. Three types were considered and
the planners finally chose the twin-en-
gine medium bomber, the B-25. For
this mission, the planes would have three
auxiliary fuel tanks and additional gaso-
line inside for a capacity of 1,141 gallons,
cameras, a 2,000-pound bomb load, a
simple bombing device called the Mark
Twain, and two dummy tail guns which,
it was hoped, would discourage Japanese
fighters from attacking from the rear. 14
The choice of planes, all of which came
from the 17th Bombardment Group, de-
termined the choice of crews. Twenty-
four were needed and it was decided to
get them all, if possible, from this group.
More than enough volunteered to make
up the force required for the assignment.
General Arnold himself chose the leader
of the expedition, Lt. Col. James H.
Doolittle.

"Vice Adm Donald B. Duncan, Account of Tokyo
Raid Planning, written for Samuel E. Morison, his-
torian of U.S. naval operations. A detailed study of
the Tokyo raid was prepared by Lt. Col. S. L. A. Mar-
shall during the war and is on file in OCMH. This
study was the basis for the accounts in Morison, The
Rising Sun in the Pacific, pp. 389-98, and Craven
and Cate, AAF I, 438-44. This author used these
narratives as well as many of the records used by
Colonel Marshall.

"The Norden sight was not used because the
planes were to bomb from low altitude and because
of the danger of enemy capture.

270

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

There were many problems, the most
important of which was to train the
pilots in carrier take-offs, still to be
solved. These were worked out during
March when the crews trained at Eglin
Field, Florida, on a strip the size of a
carrier's deck. Before the month was
over all the pilots had taken off twice
with fully loaded planes in a distance of
700 to 750 feet. There was, unfortun-
ately, no time for practice with live
bombs or for gunnery training. All the
younger pilots, however, were required
to make an extended overwater flight
from Eglin to Houston, Texas. On 24
March, after less than a month's train-
ing, the entire group was ordered to
Alameda Naval Air Station in San Fran-
cisco Bay where the naval task force
which would carry the B-25's across the
Pacific was already assembling.

The plan for the impending raid on
Tokyo was one of the best kept secrets
of the war. Only a handful of men knew
the entire plan at this time. Neither the
pilots nor the ships' crews had yet
learned their ultimate destination,
though many may have guessed it by
then. Not even the highest staff officers
in Washington had anything to do with
the project. This secrecy is strikingly
illustrated by the response from the Mili-
tary Intelligence Division of the War
Department General Staff to the sug-
gestion of an unidentified State Depart-
ment official for a surprise blow against
Japan on the Emperor's birthday, 29
April. Except for the date, the State
Department's proposal, forwarded to
General Marshall by Hornbeck, was by
coincidence identical in every respect to
the operation already under way. The
response from Military Intelligence,
which was asked to comment on the pro-

posal, was generally unfavorable and
revealed a complete ignorance of the
project. 15

This secrecy extended even to the
Chungking government which would
have to make arrangements for the re-
ception of the crews once they had com-
pleted their mission. Chiang Kai-shek
and Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, com-
mander of U.S. Army forces in China,
Burma, and India, were told only that
certain fields in eastern China would be
required for the use of American bomb-
ers and that a quantity of aviation gaso-
line and other stores must be available
by 19 April. Chiang gave his assent on
28 March without knowing what would
happen, and it was not until 2 April,
after the task force had already put to
sea, that he was told that at least twenty-
five B-25's were involved. After that
date arrangements were quickly made
for the arrival of the planes, the procure-
ment of personnel and supplies, and for
communications — no information was
to be relayed over Chinese signal chan-
nels. But already bad weather had set-
tled over eastern China.

Meanwhile Colonel Doolittle and his
group had arrived at Alameda on 31
March. There waiting was the carrier
Hornet, Capt. Marc A. Mitscher com-
manding, with two cruisers, four de-
stroyers, and an oiler. Next morning
sixteen of the B-25's — all there was
room for — were hoisted to the carrier's
flight deck and lashed down securely.
At 1000 of the 2d, under cover of a thick
fog, the Hornet and its escort steamed

11 Ltr, Hornbeck to Marshall, 14 Mar 42; Memo,
Col. Oscar N. Solbert, MI to WPD, 16 Mar 42, sub:
Possible Double Play in Opns Against Japan, AG

381 (3-14-42)-

TRANSITION

271

Colonel Doolittle and Captain
Mitsgher on the Hornet.

down San Francisco Bay and through
the Golden Gate. Once away from shore
the loud-speakers announced what the
men already suspected — that the target
was Tokyo. "Cheers from every section
of the ship greeted the announcement,"
records the Hornet action report, "and
morale reached a new high." Now for
the first time it was possible to provide
the bomber crews with target data and
other information they would need.

Weather during this first leg of the
voyage was foul. Though the high winds,
heavy seas, and frequent squalls reduced
the danger of detection they also sub-
jected the B-25's to damage from vibra-
tion and exposure to the elements.
Hornet's machinists checked the planes
frequently to make certain the lashings
were secure and to repair mechanical
difficulties. On 13 April, after eleven

days at sea, the Hornet force rendez-
voused with a similar force out of Pearl
Harbor at a point north of Midway at
the date line. Led by Vice Adm. Wil-
liam F. Halsey, Jr., who flew his flag
from the Enterprise, the entire expedi-
tion steamed westward toward Japan at
sixteen knots, the 4 cruisers and 8 de-
stroyers in the van and on the flanks,
Hornet in the center, with the 2 oilers
and the flagship in column behind.

For four days, from 13 to 17 April,
the task force nosed its way silently
through the heavy seas of the North
Pacific. 10 Overhead the planes of the
Enterprise maintained constant vigil.
On the 16th the Army bombers were
spotted for the take-off. There was no
space to spare on the crowded flight deck;
the leading bomber (Doolittle's) had
467 feet clearance, the last hung precari-
ously over the edge of the ramp. About
1,000 miles east of Tokyo, on the 17th,
the carriers and cruisers refueled and
speeded ahead at twenty knots, in the
face of winds which had increased to
gale force, toward the Japanese coast.
Barring accident or interception the
Hornet would be in launching position
by sundown the next day.

Unknown to Halsey and Doolittle,
there had been a hitch in the plans.
Fearing Japanese reprisal, Chiang had
urged early in April, when the Hornet
had already put to sea under radio
silence, that the operation be postponed,
or even canceled, but it was too late for
such drastic measures. On the 15th he
gave reluctant assent to the final plans
and for the use of the fields in eastern

"Since the task force crossed the date line, it lost
one day on the way out.

272

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

China, excepting only the one at Chu-
chow which could not be made ready
because of bad weather. It was just this
field that all the crews had chosen for
their landing, but there was no way to
get the information to the task force
without giving away its position to the
enemy.

Halsey and Doolittle had changed
their plans too. To minimize the dan-
ger of interception, the plan originally
called for a nocturnal attack, launched
about 500 miles off the Japanese coast
on the afternoon of the 19th, with Doo-
little taking off about three hours ahead
of the others to light up Tokyo with in-
cendiaries. This would bring the crews
over Chuchow during daylight of the
20th. But Halsey for some unaccount-
able reason was a day ahead of schedule
and there was no way to alert the Chinese
so that the fields would be ready. Colo-
nel Doolittle was not unduly concerned.
The Chinese, he felt certain, would re-
ceive ample notice of his arrival from
Radio Tokyo.

More serious were the developments
of the 18th which forced a change in the
hour as well as the day of the attack.
At 0210 that morning Enterprise picked
up two ships on its radar screen and
altered course. The search flight sent
out at first light confirmed the bad news
that the task force had apparently struck
the enemy's first line of patrol ships some
two hundred miles further off the coast
than expected. Worse than that, one of
the search planes reported at 07 15 that it
had been sighted. Again course was
changed, but about a half hour later
another enemy patrol ship was observed,
this time from the deck of the Hornet.
There could be little doubt that the task
force had been discovered and reported.

Enemy counteraction could be expected
at any time.

Halsey was now faced with the most
critical decision of the entire voyage.
Should he push on toward the Japanese
coast to bring the B-25's to the position
originally planned, withdraw to safety,
or launch the bombers immediately?
Whichever course he chose, he would
have to strike a delicate balance between
the risks to his carriers and the risks to
the Army bombers. Japan was still 670
miles away, more than 100 miles further
than the air planners had considered safe
for the bombing run. It was evident to
Halsey that he could take his carriers no
further without exposing them to attack.
The bombers would have to take off now
or not at all — the carriers must with-
draw. His decision, made with Colonel
Doolittle's concurrence, was to launch
the bombers and risk attack, though
Tokyo was still five hours' flight away
and the prospect of the crews reaching
the fields in China slim. At 0800 Hal-
sey gave his orders: Hornet to turn at
twenty-two knots into the wind and
prepare to launch; Nashville to sink
the patrol ship sighted fifteen minutes
earlier.

Aboard the Hornet the next hour and
a half was full of excitement and ordered
confusion. The wind was at forty knots
and the sea so rough that the green
waters washed over the carrier's ramps.
After a few last-minute instructions the
bomb racks were loaded and the planes
readied for the take-off. It was 0818
when Colonel Doolittle began his run
down the flight deck and then roared
upward to circle the Hornet once before
heading west. The rest of the pilots
followed quickly and without incident
except for one "who hung on the brink

TRANSITION

273

of a stall until," wrote Admiral Halsey,
"we nearly catalogued his effects." 17 By
0924 the entire group was airborne and
the task force reversed course and speeded
for home at 25 knots, all radios tuned in
for news from Tokyo.

The flight of the bombers toward
Tokyo Bay was uneventful, though they
flew over warships and past Japanese air-
craft. Apparently the patrol boat warn-
ings had not yet been broadcast. In their
favor also was the fact that Tokyo that
morning was holding a full-scale air drill
which was just ending when Colonel
Doolittle's plane reached the city, com-
ing in from the north at rooftop level,
shortly after noon. Not a shot had been
fired at his plane when at 1215 (Tokyo
time) he and Lt. Travis Hoover in the
second plane dropped their incendiaries
and bombs. One antiaircraft battery
answered the attack, apparently on the
initiative of the gunners, but there was
as yet no general alarm or understanding
that an enemy raid was in progress.

After this first bombing there was an
interlude of about twenty minutes dur-
ing which the air raid warning finally
sounded. Then at 1240 eleven more
bombers, which had reached the target
by different courses, came in over the
enemy capital, hitting factories, oil tanks,
power plants, and military installations.
The remaining three planes, loaded with
incendiaries, hit Nagoya, Yokohoma, the
Yokosuka Navy Yard, and Kobe. Though
all the crews had been cautioned against
striking nonmilitary targets it was inevi-
table that they should and for this three
of the fliers later paid with their lives.
Fifteen of the sixteen bombers success-

"William F. Halsey and Joseph Bryan, Admiral
Halsey's Story (New York: Whittlesey House, 1947),
p. 103.

fully completed their missions. Not a
single plane had been shot down, but
the last and most dangerous portion of
the voyage still lay ahead.

Behind them the American pilots left
a surprised and confused enemy. By
later standards damage was slight, but
the Japanese people could not doubt that
the enemy had broken through the Em-
pire's inner defenses to strike at the
heart of the homeland. How it had been
done the authorities did not yet know.
The patrol boats had alerted them to the
presence of the carriers, but they were
puzzled by the fact that the aircraft
which struck Tokyo had been Army
bombers, not the carriers planes . they
expected. The Japanese did not appar-
ently associate Doolittle's attack with the
carriers. The bombers, they thought,
had come from Midway and they were
still expecting a carrier-based attack the
next morning, when the ships reported
by the patrol boats would have come
within launching position. It was some
time before the Japanese accepted the
truth that the carriers and the bombers
were part of the same force.

The rest of the story of the Tokyo
raid — the landing of the fliers in China
and their flight to safety — is one of
heroism, suffering, and tragedy. Of the
sixteen crews, fifteen made China with
the help of a providential tail wind; the
sixteenth landed near Vladivostok and
its crew was interned by the Russians,
escaping later to Iran. The planes over
China, except one which came down
along the coast, made their way through
the darkness and rain until their fuel
was exhausted without finding the des-
ignated fields. Four of the bombers
crash-landed and the crews of the re-
mainder bailed out. Eight of the men

274

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

fell into Japanese hands and 1 of those
who had parachuted was killed in descent.
Thus 71 of the 80 men who had started
on the hazardous journey finally made
their way to safety. 18

The naval task force made good its
escape also, evading the planes and ships
the Japanese sent in pursuit and sinking
several small vessels in the bargain. Once
beyond the outer picket line, the voyage
home was uneventful, and on 25 April,
a week after the President had announced
that planes from Shangri-La had bombed
Tokyo, Halsey led his fleet into Pearl
Harbor. All hands were looking for-
ward to an extended shore leave, but
already a new crisis was developing in
the Coral Sea.

Coral Sea and Midway

Ever since early March, when the 4th
Fleet and the South Seas Detachment
had jointly occupied Lae and Salamaua
along the northeast coast of New Guinea,
the Japanese had been preparing for a
seaborne invasion of Port Moresby, a
move that would take them into the
Coral Sea between Australia and the
New Hebrides. The carriers and cruis-
ers required for that operation had finally
arrived at Truk on 29 April at which
time orders for the long-delayed invasion
were issued. 19

The landings at Port Moresby — there
were to be two of them — were to be
made at dawn, 10 May, by General
Horii's South Seas Detachment and a
battalion of special naval landing troops.
Both units were to leave Rabaul on the
4th in a convoy whose maximum speed,

"Four of the men who were captured by the
Japanese were recovered after the war.
"See above,! p. 217. I

fixed by the old Army transports carrying
the South Seas Detachment, was only six
and a half knots. Since these slow ships
would expose the convoy to air and naval
attack, the Japanese made careful pro-
vision to protect their troops. Direct
support would be provided by a naval
escort force comprising the small carrier
Shoho, 4 heavy cruisers, and a destroyer
squadron. Ranging farther afield, free
to strike any Allied air and naval units,
was a carrier division comprised of 2
large carriers, the Shokaku and Zuikaku,

3 heavy cruisers, and 7 destroyers under
the command of Vice Adm. Takeo
Takagi. In addition, 2 submarines were
to take up positions in the Coral Sea and

4 others along the eastern coast of Aus-
tralia to intercept any Allied naval war-
ships hastening to the scene. Finally,
long-range bombers based at Rabaul
were to strike targets in northeast Aus-
tralia and interdict air and naval traffic
in the Coral Sea and Torres Strait. 20

For this venture, the Japanese, who
had acquired considerable caution since
the Allied reaction to the Lae-Salamaua
landings, left nothing to chance. As a
prelude to the invasion of Port Moresby
by this sizable force, there would be two
preliminary operations: first, the occupa-
tion of Tulagi in the southern Solomons
on 3 May; and second, the seizure two
days later of Deboyne Island just off the
east coast of Papua. With these islands
in their possession, the Japanese would

"This account of the plans and of the action which
follows is based on the following sources: Japanese
Opns in SWPA, 125-29; Hist of Army Sec, Imperial
Gf/Q, pp. 5 iff; Hist of South Seas Detachment, pp.
12—14; Southeast Area Naval Opns, I, pp. 2, 4, 15;
Bismarck — Solomons Landing Opns, pp. 36-42; 18th
Army Opns, I, p. 7; ONI Combat Narrative, The
Battle of the Coral Sea OCMH; Morison, Coral Sea,
Midway and Submarine Actions; Craven and Cate,
AAF I, pp. 448—50.

TRANSITION

275

be able to provide shore-based air sup-
port for the landings at Port Moresby
and to cover the east flank of the invasion
force during its approach.

Even before the arrival of the large
carriers at Truk on 29 April, the Jap-
anese had already put the first part of
this plan into effect. Four days earlier,
aircraft from Rabaul had begun to bomb
fields in northeast Australia. The Tulagi
force moved out of Rabaul a few days
later and on 2 May stood off the island.
There was no opposition to the landing
next day; the small Australian detach-
ment had been warned and after destroy-
ing what it could had pulled out for
Efate in the New Hebrides. On the 5th
the Japanese occupied Deboyne Island.
Thus far everything had come off on
schedule, exactly as planned.

While these preliminary operations
were in progress, the Port Moresby in-
vasion force was moving into position
for the landing. The South Seas Detach-
ment and the special naval troops began
loading on 2 May and on the 4th sailed
out of the harbor to meet the naval
escort. That same day the Shokaku and
ZuikakUj steaming south from Truk,
received reports of an Allied carrier-based
attack on Tulagi and set course for the
island at full speed.

Despite continued reports of Allied
naval forces in the Coral Sea, the Port
Moresby convoy, reinforced by the
Shoho group, which had supported the
Tulagi landing, continued on its way.
But on the 7th, when it was clear that
the invasion force had been spotted, the
transports and a portion of the escorting
and supporting naval elements were
ordered back to safety. Remaining to
take up position for the impending
battle were the carriers Shokaku and

Zuikaku with their cruiser and destroyer
escort in the open waters south of the
Solomons, off San Cristobal.

The presence of Allied naval forces in
the Coral Sea was no accident. Ever
since February, reports of Japanese con-
centrations in the Northeast Area and in
the mandated islands had been coming
into Washington. By mid-April the time
and place of attack had been fairly well
determined from intercepted and de-
coded messages and both Nimitz and
MacArthur warned to expect a sea-
borne invasion of Port Moresby. 21 Thus
alerted, both Pacific commanders made
preparations to frustrate this fresh Jap-
anese venture, which, if successful, would
prove disastrous to MacArthur's plans
for the defense of Australia and would
create a serious threat to the line of
communications.

General MacArthur's slender naval
resources were no match for the formi-
dable Japanese fleet entering his theater
but he did what he could. His chief
weapon was the land-based Allied Air
Forces, and under his direction Brett
assembled all the planes that he could
at bases in northeast Australia. From
there, long-range bombers struck Rabaul,
Lae, Buka, and Deboyne during the first
week of May while reconnaissance planes
kept constant vigil along the sea ap-
proaches leading into the Coral Sea. It
was these aircraft that discovered the
Port Moresby invasion force on 6 May
in the vicinity of Jomard Passage off the
coast of Papua. 22

2 *JIC Daily Summary, 19 and 24 Feb 42; Rad,
King to Nimitz and Leary, No. 203a, 18 Apr 4a, both
cited in Hayes, The War Against Japan, ch. IV, p. 50.

"Allied Opns in SWPA, SWPA Series, I, pp. 46-47;
Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 719, 13 May 42,
OPD Exec Files.

276

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Most of the naval forces to meet the
Japanese threat came from Admiral
Nimitz' Pacific Fleet and were under his
command. By noon 29 April he had
made his plans. These called for the
organization of a task force built around
the carriers Yorktown and Lexington
and under the command of Rear Adm.
Frank J. Fletcher to rendezvous west of
the New Hebrides and south of the Solo-
mons. Fletcher's orders were simply to
"operate in the Coral Sea commencing
1 May." 23 By that time, his force would
include an attack group of cruisers and
destroyers, a support group of three
cruisers — two of them Australian — from
the Southwest Pacific, a search group,
and a destroyer screen for the carriers.
All together Admiral Fletcher would have
in his command 2 carriers, 1 light and
7 heavy cruisers, 13 destroyers, 2 tankers,
and a seaplane tender. The submarines
were not included in the task force; they
would operate independently and patrol
the coastal waters off northeast Australia
and New Guinea. Thus, while the Jap-
anese had a unified command for this
operation the Allies were divided, with
the bulk of the naval forces under Nimitz
and the submarines and land-based
aviation under MacArthur.

This array of Allied naval strength was
hardly large enough to warrant any great
optimism over the outcome. But it was
the best Nimitz could do at the moment.
He had other forces — Halsey's two carrier
groups, each with one carrier, had re-
turned to Pearl Harbor on the 25th —
but it would take time to overhaul the
vessels and make the 3,500-mile journey
to the Coral Sea. On the off-chance that
the battle would be delayed and that

"CINCPAC Opn Plan 23-42, 29 Apr 42; Morison,
Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions, p. 16.

Halsey could reach the scene, Nimitz
made provision for the two additional
carriers in his plans and ordered Halsey
to make ready for the action.

The Japanese landing at Tulagi on
3 May took the Allies by surprise and
found Fletcher's force some 500 miles to
the south, still refueling. Immediately,
Admiral Fletcher, who flew his flag from
the Yorktown, made for Tulagi at high
speed. Next morning, he launched his
planes against the Japanese in the har-
bor, crippling a destroyer and sinking
some small boats, and then returned
to join the Lexington. The damage
wrought by the raid was minor and had
little effect on Japanese activities other
than to alert them to the presence of
American carriers and to bring the
Shokaku and Zuikaku down to the area
at full speed.

During the next few days, as the Port
Moresby invasion force moved toward
the target, search planes from the Amer-
ican carriers sought the enemy without
success. Early on the morning of 6 May,
when Brett's B-17's finally located a
large force approaching Jomard Passage,
word was flashed to Fletcher who at once
ordered his fleet to set course for the
enemy. All that day the fleet steamed
northwest and the next morning Fletcher
sent in the attack group of cruisers and
destroyers to block the southern end of
Jomard Passage through which the Shoho
and the convoy's screen would pass.

Unknown to Fletcher, the main carrier
strength of the Japanese was nowhere
near Jomard, but off to the south and
east. Early on the 7th, Japanese scout
planes spotted two American vessels, a
tanker and a destroyer, and mistakenly
reported the former as a carrier. The
Shokaku and Zuikaku's bombers moved

TRANSITION

277

in for the attack. Against such easy prey
the Japanese pilots had little difficulty,
sinking the destroyer at once and fatally
damaging the tanker.

Meanwhile American aircraft had
sighted the Shoho group and moved in
for the kill, sinking the Shoho and a
mine layer at 0930 of the 7th. But still
neither side had definitely located the
main force of the other. Throughout
that day and into the night each searched
feverishly for the other without success.

On the morning of the 8th, the op-
posing carriers, about 235 miles apart,
located each other. The Shokaku and
Zuikaku immediately launched their
attack planes which made contact at
ogso. At about the same time aircraft
from the Lexington and Yorktown hit
the Japanese in an attack that lasted less
than two hours. The results seemed to
be fairly even. Both the American car-
riers were damaged, the Lexington seri-
ously. Only one of the Japanese carriers,
the Shokaku, was hurt badly, but the
enemy had lost more planes. Of the
original complement of almost 100 air-
craft, the Japanese had less than forty.
Neither side was in condition to continue
the fight.

Deprived of carrier protection and
naval escort for the Port Moresby con-
voy, which had remained out of the way
throughout the battle, the Japanese
commander decided to call off the in-
vasion and turn back to Rabaul. From
Admiral Yamamoto came swift disap-
proval and an order to resume the fight
and "annihilate the remnants of the
enemy fleet." 24 But it was too late. For
two days he tried to re-establish contact,
but finally had to give up.

'Japanese in SWPA, 129.

Explosion on the Lexington during
the Coral Sea Battle.

Admiral Fletcher's problem was more
serious. The Lexington was burning
badly and he must try to save it. Shortly
after noon of the 8 th an internal explo-
sion rocked the "Lady Lex." Soon there
were more explosions and by late after-
noon the Lexington's fires were beyond
control. Fletcher realized that he could
no longer hope to save the Lady and
made ready to pick up her crew when
the time came to abandon ship. All hope
of returning to the battle was already
gone when he received Nimitz' message
to retire. That night the Lexington
went down. Not a man was lost, and
even the captain's dog was saved.

The loss of the Lexington gave the
victory to the Japanese, if victory is
measured in ship losses alone. But the
Japanese did not so consider it. Their
plan to take Port Moresby had been
frustrated; strategically the victory be-

278

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

longed to the Allies. Coming as it did
on 8 May, two days after the gloomy
news of Corregidor's surrender, this vic-
tory gleamed all the more brightly as an
augur of the future.

The defeat in the Coral Sea had little
immediate effect on Japanese plans.
These plans had originally called for the
seizure of strategic positions in New
Caledonia, the Fijis, and Samoa once the
Port Moresby operation was over. 25 But
the staff at Imperial General Headquar-
ters;, which approved this plan on 28
April, had hardly begun to prepare for
operations against the Allied line of
communications when the Navy proposed
instead an attack against Midway and
the western Aleutians. The Aleutians
strike had already been discussed during
March and the Army favored it. But
Admiral Yamamoto who had first raised
the possibility of such an attack against
the Aleutians, regarded it as only one
part of a larger plan whose main objec-
tive was Midway. Admiral Nagano,
Chief of the Navy General Staff, did not
raise that aspect of Yamamoto's plans in
the discussions with the Army planners.
Apparently he was not convinced at this
time of the wisdom of an attack against
Midway, but Yamamoto soon brought
him around to his point of view. On 16
April, Nagano issued orders calling for
a simultaneous attack on Midway and the
Aleutians early in June, followed by the
New Caledonia-Fiji-Samoa operation.

These orders were merely a statement
of naval intentions and would not be-
come approved war plans until the Army
gave its consent. But Nagano for some
unexplained reason did not mention
Midway during the debate over the in-

vasion of Australia which led to the
agreement of 28 April. Once again
Yamamoto turned the powers of his per-
suasion on Nagano. Now he had the
Tokyo raid, which the Japanese then
thought had originated from Midway, to
bolster his argument. Unless that island
was occupied, he warned, there might
be more American air raids against the
homeland. Again Admiral Nagano
bowed to the wishes of his forceful
subordinate.

Thus, at the beginning of May, the
Army planners received from their naval
colleagues a plan for operations against
Midway and the Aleutians. General
Sugiyama, Chief of the Army General
Staff, thought the plan overbold and
opposed it, but the Navy was united.
Nagano, stoutly backed by Yamamoto,
insisted that Midway must be taken and
if the Army refused to go along, the Navy
would have to act independently. After
a brief struggle, General Sugiyama finally
gave in, influenced no doubt by Nagano's
assurance that only a very small Army
force, about one regiment, would be re-
quired. On 5 May, before the Coral Sea
battle, Imperial General Headquarters
issued orders for the Midway-Aleutians
operation, to take place early in June.
The New Caledonia-Fiji-Samoa opera-
tion would be postponed until after
Midway and the western Aleutians had
been occupied. 28

The decision of 5 May was, in a real
sense, a victory for Admiral Yamamoto.
In the five months since the start of the

"See above, p. 217

M Hist of Army Sec, Imperial GHQ, pp. 48, 50;
Aleutians Naval Opns, Mar 42— Feb 43, pp. 2, 5—6;
Midway Opns, pp. 3-5, 27, Japanese Studies in World
War II, 53 and 96; Japanese Opns in SWPA, 124—25;
Interrog of Generals Tanaka and Arisue; Statements
of Admiral Tomioka and Colonel Hattori, Statements
of Japanese Officials, IV, 315, I, 331—32.

TRANSITION

279

war, the Combined Fleet had moved
back and forth across the waters of the
Pacific from Pearl Harbor to Ceylon,
destroying everything in its path. It had
sunk 5 of the enemy's battleships, 1 air-
craft carrier, 2 cruisers and 7 destroyers;
damaged a number of capital ships; and
destroyed thousands of tons of merchant
shipping and fleet auxiliaries. The cost
had been small : 3 of the carriers had lost
heavily in planes and skilled pilots; 23
small naval vessels, of which the largest
was a destroyer, and about 60 transports
and merchant ships had been sunk. The
time was ripe, Yamamoto firmly believed,
for a decisive blow. Pearl Harbor had
only crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet; the
attack on Midway, by forcing Nimitz
into a fleet engagement, would give the
Japanese an opportunity to destroy it. 27

The Battle of the Coral Sea did not
alter Yamamoto's views, though it meant
that the Shokaku and Zuikaku would
not be available for the Midway opera-
tion and that there would have to be
another try for Port Moresby. But that
was placed on the bottom of the list, to
be made after New Caledonia, the Fijis,
and Samoa had been taken. Midway and
the Aleutians now had first priority and
planning for them went forward rapidly.

Concurrently with the planning for
Midway and the Aleutians, the Army
and Navy staff in Tokyo made prepara-
tion for the operations which would fol-
low, and on 18 May established the ijth
Army under Lt. Gen. Haruyoshi Hyaku-
take. His orders were to co-operate with
the Combined Fleet in the capture of
New Caledonia, the Fijis, and Samoa, in
order to "destroy the main enemy bases

" Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, pp. 285-
86, and Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Action,
PP. 5. 74-76-

in those areas, establish operational bases
at Suva and Noumea, gain control of the
seas east of Australia, and strive to cut
communications between Australia and
the United States." 28 Early July was the
date tentatively selected for the start of
these operations, provided that the fleet
was ready.

General Hyakutake lost no time in
getting ready. His total force consisted
of about nine infantry battalions and
support would be furnished by the 2d
Fleet, with attached carriers, and the 11th
Air Fleet. The South Seas Detachment,
scheduled to take New Caledonia, was
to assemble at Rabaul in the latter part
of June; the two detachments selected to
seize the Fijis and Samoa were to be
ready at Truk early in July. When these
operations were concluded, the Japanese
would make a second try for Port
Moresby. 29

Meanwhile Admiral Yamamoto had
completed his plans for the Midway-
Aleutians campaign. The Aleutians force
was built around the carriers Junyo and
Ryujo and included, in addition to the
landing force, submarines to patrol the
west coast. 30 For the Midway operation,
Yamamoto organized the most formi-
dable force the Japanese had assembled
since Pearl Harbor. The occupation
force numbered about 5,000 Army and
Navy troops whose transports would be
protected by a strong escort. The main
body of the fleet with which Yamamoto
hoped to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet
comprised a carrier force of 4 large car-
riers, the A kagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and Soryu,

^Imperial GHQ Army Order 19, 18 May 4s, in
Japanese Opns in SWPA, 125.

'"I'jth Army Opns, I, pp. 4, 6; Statement of
Admiral Tomioka.

80 One of the submarines stood off Seattle while one
of its planes scouted the harbor.

280

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

together with battleships, cruisers, de-
stroyers, and auxiliaries; an attack force
of 3 battleships, including the 60,000-ton
Yamato, flagship of the expedition, a
light carrier, tenders, miscellaneous ves-
sels, and a screen of 16 submarines.
Yamamoto's plan was to open the cam-
paign on 3 June by an attack on Dutch
Harbor followed by the occupation of
the western Aleutians. The carriers
then would soften up Midway, while the
attack force, led by Yamamoto himself,
would move in and finish off the Pacific
Fleet if it challenged the carriers. Finally,
on the night of 6 June, the landing force
would take Midway. But the success of
the plan depended, as Yamamoto well
knew, on the defeat of the American
fleet. So long as that fleet was intact,
victory at Midway or in the Aleutians
would at best be a hollow one. 31

In the last week of May the Japanese
began moving into position. The Aleu-
tians force left Japan first, followed on
27 May by the carriers, led by the same
Admiral Nagumo who had commanded
in the strike on Pearl Harbor. The next
day the landing force, which had been
assembled at Saipan, completed loading
and sailed for the rendezvous point, ac-
companied by the covering cruisers and
destroyers. The following morning (0600
of the 29th) , Admiral Yamamoto left
Tokyo Bay with the main body of the
fleet.

Again, as in the Coral Sea, the Jap-
anese found the American fleet waiting
for them. As before, the warning had
come from intelligence sources which
had broken the Japanese codes and thus
acquired advance information on the

next Japanese move. The Battle of the
Coral Sea had barely closed when these
intelligence sources revealed that the
Japanese were collecting a large task
force in home waters for an operation
scheduled for late May or June. Just
where the attack would come was not yet
known but Admiral King thought it
might be another attempt at Port Mores-
by or against New Caledonia and the
Fijis. 32

In support of this view King could
turn to the estimate made by General
MacArthur some days earlier and with-
out reference to intelligence sources.
The end of resistance in the Philippines
— the message was dated two days after
the surrender of Corregidor — and the
British defeat in Burma, MacArthur had
written, would probably release Jap-
anese forces for use elsewhere. Unlike
the British who feared the Japanese
would move in force into the Indian
Ocean after the strike against Ceylon
early in April, he thought the enemy
would probably strike against New
Guinea and the line of communications.
Thus far he and King were in agree-
ment, while the Army planners were
inclined to minimize the threat in the
Pacific and side with the British. The
Japanese, MacArthur pointed out, had
the bases for an offensive in the Pacific
but not for large operations against
India. To guard against the next Jap-
anese attack, therefore, he recommended
"adequate security for Australia and the
Pacific Area . . . followed at the earliest
possible moment by offensive action or
by at least a sufficiently dangerous initial

"Morison, Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine
Actions, pp. 74-79, 87-90.

n Rad, Nimitz to King, No. £347, 10 May 41, cited
in Hayes, The War Against Japan, ch. V, p 51;
Memo, Ring for Marshall, is May 48, sub: Sit in
SPA and SWPA, OPD Exec Files.

TRANSITION

281

threat of offensive action to affect the
enemy's plans and dispositions." 38

This estimate, when taken with intelli-
gence of Japanese concentrations, com-
bined to produce in Washington a
change in plans. At the insistence of
Admiral King, Generals Marshall and
Arnold finally agreed to an increase in
the air strength of New Caledonia and
the Fijis, despite the earlier decision not
to do so. Heavy and medium bombers
en route to Australia were to be diverted
to these two garrisons, together with an
antiaircraft regiment for the Fijis, to
come from the Hawaiian force. Mac-
Arthur, it was realized, would probably
protest this diversion of his heavy bomb-
ers, but Marshall and Arnold decided
they would meet that contingency when
it arose. 34

Before this program of reinforcement
began, the cryptanalysts learned that the
enemy objectives would be Midway and
the Aleutians. 35 This information was
immediately passed to Nimitz and Mac-
Arthur, and orders went out to keep the
heavy and medium bombers scheduled
for New Caledonia and the Fijis in
Hawaii. The Marine garrison at Mid-
way was reinforced and began feverishly
to prepare the ground defenses of the
island against invasion. The Marine air
group there was brought up to strength

"*Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 176, 8 May 42,
OPD Msg File.

"Memos, King for Marshall, 12 May 42, sub: Sit in
SPA and SWPA; Marshall for Eisenhower, same date,
both in OPD Exec Files; Marshall for King, 13 May
42, sub: Sit in South Pacific, OPD 381 Australia; Rad,
King to Nimitt, No. 2410, 13 May 42, OPD 381 PTO
sec. 1 case 22.

"Rads, Emmons to Marshall, 16 May 42, CM-IN-
5477; Nimitz to King, No. 0639, 14 May 42, ABC 381
(1-22-42 sec. 2) Pacific Bases; Memo, King for
Marshall, 18 May 42, sub: Hawaiian and Alaskan
Defenses. OPD Exec Files.

(64 aircraft) and 15 Army B-17's were
flown in at the end of May. With other
reinforcements and exclusive of the
Marine air group, the air strength at
Midway by 3 June consisted of 30 PBY's,
4 B-26's, 17 B-i7*s, and 6 TBF's. 86 In
the North Pacific, a task force of four
heavy cruisers and eight destroyers was
organized to meet the naval threat and
all air elements in the area, including a
few B-17's that were rushed out, were
quickly mobilized for the defense of
Alaska and the Aleutians.

To meet the threat of the main force
of the Japanese fleet off Midway, Admiral
Nimitz had only limited naval forces.
The Lexington was gone, the Yorktown
damaged. All the fleet's battleships were
on the west coast. The Saratoga and
Wasp were on orders for the Pacific, but
were not scheduled to arrive until late
June. Only the Enterprise and Hornet
(Task Force 16) , lately returned from
the South Pacific after the Tokyo raid
and now commanded by Rear Adm.
Raymond A. Spruance during Halsey's
hospitalization, were ready at Pearl Har-
bor on 26 May, the day Nagumo took his
carriers out of the Inland Sea. Next day
Fletcher brought his Yorktown force in
and the repair crews at Pearl performed
the miracle of getting it ready for action
in about two days. Thus Nimitz had at
the end of the month a force of 3 carriers,
1 light and 7 heavy cruisers, 13 destroy-
ers, and 25 submarines. On 2 June these
vessels rendezvoused at a point 350 miles
northeast of Midway, where Admiral
Fletcher assumed command of the entire
force. Next day the fleet was waiting
200 miles north of Midway for the ap
pearance of the enemy. Fletcher's orders

"Craven and Cate, AAF I, 455-56.

282

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

were to avoid a surface engagement with
the more powerful Japanese fleet and to
seek a decision by air action. 37

Meanwhile, the Seventh Air Force in
Hawaii had been making its own prepa-
rations for the battle. On the 18th the
air force had been placed on a special
alert and thereafter intensified its search
missions. In the days that followed, Maj.
Gen. Clarence L. Tinker, commander of
the Seventh Air Force, received a steady
stream of reinforcements and by the end
of the month had in commission 44
B-i7's, 4 B-18's, and 101 P-40's, with
more planes arriving almost daily. 38

But these measures did not satisfy
General MacArthur, who was still con-
cerned over the security of Australia and
asking for reinforcements, including air-
craft carriers. In justification, Marshall
carefully explained the reasons for this
concentration at Midway, pointing out
the enemy was "endeavoring to maneuver
our Pacific Fleet out of position. . . . The
future of Australia will hinge on our
preliminary deployment to meet this
situation and our countermoves." 39
Should the Japanese move against Aus-
tralia instead of Midway, Marshall
assured his former chief, then the rein-
forcements diverted to Hawaii "will
immediately be dispatched to your assist-
ance." "Your needs," he went on, "are
being given every consideration possible
in light of developing situation."

MacArthur took quick advantage of
this opportunity to point out again that
"lack of seapower in the Pacific is and
has been the fatal weakness in our posi-

"Morison, Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine
Actions, pp. 81-82, 97; Ltr, Spruance to Hoover,
17 Jul 59, OCMH.

" Craven and Cate, AAF 1, 454-55.

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 109, 22 May
OPD 381 Gen, sec. 1.

tion since the beginning of the war." 40
Since the enemy's intentions were known,
he thought the "Indian and Atlantic
Oceans should be temporarily stripped
in order to concentrate in sufficient force
for this special occasion." Failure to do
this, he warned, might well result in
"such disasters and a crisis of such pro-
portions" as the United States had never
before faced.

General Marshall was away on an in-
spection of the west coast defenses when
MacArthur's message came in and it
went to Admiral King for reply. Appar-
ently King saw merit in MacArthur's
proposal, for he himself suggested next
day that the British Far Eastern Fleet be
moved up to Colombo in Ceylon and
that the Pacific Fleet be reinforced with
carriers, battleships, cruisers, and de-
stroyers from the Atlantic. At the same
time he recommended that the move-
ment of aircraft to the Pacific be given
priority "even over Bolero." 41 These
proposals struck at the heart of the deci-
sion of 6 May to limit Pacific reinforce-
ments to aircraft already authorized, 42
and evoked from the Army planners
strong opposition. General McNarney,
acting for Marshall in his absence, imme-
diately informed his chief of this newest
development, but withheld official reply
until Marshall's return on 27 May. The
Chief of Staff was willing to support
King's plan for naval reinforcements,
but, like McNarney, opposed the alloca-
tion of additional aircraft to the Pacific,
or, as a matter of fact, any move that
would interfere with the build-up for

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 119, 23 May
42, CM-IN-64og.

"Memo, King for Marshall, 24 May 42, sub: Sit
in Pacific, WDCSA, SWPA.

43 See above, p. 222

TRANSITION

283

Bolero. 43 This answer did not satisfy
Admiral King or meet MacArthur's and
Nimitz' demands for reinforcements of
the Pacific, but there the matter rested
until the crisis presented by the Japanese
move against Midway and the Aleutians
had been met.

The Japanese, blissfully unaware of
the reception being prepared for them,
were meanwhile closing in on their ob-
jectives. Far to the north, under cover of
heavy fog and rough weather, the Aleu-
tians force had by the 3d of June reached
a point about 180 miles southwest of
Dutch Harbor, from where the Junyo
and Ryujo sent their planes aloft.
Though alerted the day before when a
PBY had spotted the two carriers, the
aircraft at Dutch Harbor had been unable
to locate the enemy and forestall the
strike that followed. In addition to the
damage to barracks and installations, the
Americans lost about twenty-five men.
Next day the weather was worse but the
Japanese, now less than 100 miles away,
struck again at Dutch Harbor, this time
with more effect. But they did not get
away unscathed; they lost five planes out
of twenty-six to P-^o's from Umnak.

While the Junyo and Ryujo planes
were striking Dutch Harbor, American
aircraft were groping in the fog and mist
for the enemy carriers. A PBY sighted
the Japanese force at 0845 of the 4th, but
it was not until midafternoon that any of
the bombers were able to locate the tar-
get. And when they did they had to
bomb almost blind through the fog. By
this time the carriers had completed their
task and were already withdrawing to a
point from where they could screen the

"Rad, McNarney to Marshall, No. 1096, 54 May
42, AG 381 (5-24-42); Memo, Marshall for King,
n.d., sub: Sit in Pacific, OPD 381 PTO sec. 1.

landings in the western Aleutians, at
Attu and Kiska, on 7 June. 44

At Midway the Japanese had met dis-
aster. Sighted on 3 June by one of the
Midway search planes, the occupation
force had come under attack from B-17's
later in the day but had escaped. That
night PBY's equipped with radar at-
tacked again, this time hitting one of the
tankers and strafing the transports. But
this was only a preliminary to the real
battle that came the next day when Ad-
miral Nagumo's carrier force, which had
already discharged its planes for the
attack, was discovered to the northwest
of the island. B-i'y's, B-26's, and
Marine planes were already aloft and
these sped to the scene while the remain-
ing aircraft on Midway as well as those
on the three American carriers made
ready to take off. When the Japanese
aircraft, seventy-two bombers and thirty-
six fighters, moved in to the attack they
met a warm reception. Badly hit, the
Japanese nevertheless managed to inflict
severe damage before they made their
escape. 45

Meanwhile, the Japanese carriers had
come under heavy attack from the
Americans. Bunched together, the Akagi,
Kaga, and Soryu proved vulnerable tar-
gets and all were fatally hit. The Soryu
was dealt the last blow by the submarine
Nautilus and went down at 1610; the
Kaga joined her a few minutes later, and
that evening the Akagi, which had been

■"Craven and Cate, AAF I, 462-70; Morison, Coral
Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions, pp. 175-85.

■"The B-17's bombed one of the surfaced Amer-
ican submarines by mistake, but, fortunately, missed
the target. General Emmons apologized to Admiral
Nimitz for the error and asked him what should
be done. "Have your air commander meet the sub
on arrival at Pearl Harbor," replied Admiral Nimitz,
"and invite the crew to have a drink." Ltr, Emmons
to Hoover, 10 Jul 59, OCMH.

284

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

set afire and was burning fiercely, was
abandoned. Nagumo's fourth carrier, the
Hiryu, launched its own attack on York-
town, dealt her a lethal blow, and then
was herself hit by dive bombers from the
other two American carriers. Like the
Akagi, the Hiryu was set afire and finally
abandoned on the morning of the 5th.

The fate of the Japanese carriers de-
cided the issue. Yamamoto's vain effort
on the night of the gth to snatch victory
from defeat by an attack against the
island was a measure of desperation and
only resulted in fresh disaster. Two of
his cruisers collided and had to retire,
only to be hit the next day by planes
from the Enterprise and Hornet, One
was sunk and the other badly damaged.
Yamamoto's main body — the battleship
division, three destroyer divisions, and
the Aleutians force — was still intact and,
in a final effort to destroy the Pacific
Fleet, Yamamoto sought to lure Admiral
Spruance into a trap off Wake Island.
But Spruance, though tempted, refused
to take the bait. By the afternoon of the
7th Yamamoto knew his last hope was
gone and started for home. The sur-
prise he had hoped to achieve had been
gained by the enemy instead; he had
been outmaneuvered, outsmarted, and,
worst of all, had lost four carriers with
their planes and pilots, the main striking
force of the Combined Fleet. It was a
blow from which the Japanese fleet never
fully recovered. 46

This disaster, the full extent of which
was concealed from the Japanese public,
had a decisive effect on General Hyaku-

take's plans for the seizure, early in July,
of New Caledonia, the Fijis, and Samoa.
Four days after the battle ended, on 11
June, Imperial General Headquarters
postponed the operations for two months
and later canceled them altogther." The
capture of Port Moresby was now more
urgent than ever to meet the threat of
counterattack from Australia. An am-
phibious operation was no longer possi-
ble, however, and Imperial General
Headquarters canceled the project at the
same time it called off the New Caledo-
nia-Fiji-Samoa operation. But it did
not give up the idea of taking Port
Moresby. Instead it directed Hyakutake
to make plans for an overland drive from
the east coast of New Guinea across the
towering Owen Stanley Range. On the
basis of this order and a naval survey for
airfield sites, General Hyakutake ordered
Horii, the South Seas Detachment com-
mander, to land at Buna and reconnoiter
the land route for an advance on Port
Moresby. Finally, on 11 July, a month
after it had canceled a seaborne invasion
of Port Moresby, Imperial General Head-
quarters gave its blessing to this new
scheme for an overland attack. Ten days
later the Japanese landed at Buna.* 8

For the period between mid-March,
the high-water mark of Japanese expan-
sion, and late July the Japanese had
precious little to show for their efforts
other than a victory, already assured, in
the Philippines. They had acquired a
seaplane base at Tulagi on 3 May and
soon thereafter began building an air-
strip on the neighboring island of Gua-
dalcanal. A month later they had seized

"For the naval side of the battle, see Morison,
Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions, 101—55;
for the Air Forces account, Craven and Cate, AAF I,
456-62. The author used these accounts as well as
many of the sources cited in both works.

** Imperial GHQ, Navy Order so, 11 Jul 4a; Japa-
nese Opns in SWPA, isg.

*For a full account of these plans and the opera
tions that followed see Milner, Victory in Papua.

TRANSITION

285

* - x

Battle of Midway. Japanese heavy cruiser of the Mogami class after being bombed by
carrier-based aircraft.

two islands in the bleak Aleutians, and
then a beachhead at Buna from where
they hoped to launch an attack against
Port Moresby. The cost of these scat-
tered holdings in planes, trained pilots,
and carriers had been enormous. Until

these losses were replaced and the super-
iority lost at Midway regained, as it
never could be in a race against Ameri-
can production, the Japanese would have
to go on the strategic defensive. The
tide of victory had finally turned.

PART THREE
SEIZING THE INITIATIVE

The passage from the defensive to the offensive is one of the most delicate
operations of war.

Napoleon, Maxims

In war, the only sure defense is the offense.

General Patton

CHAPTER XIII

Planning the Offensive

Strategy is a system of expedients. It is more than knowledge; it is the
application of knowledge to practical life, the art of action under the
most trying circumstances.

Von Moltke

Though the decisive and far-reaching
effects of the victory at Midway were not
immediately apparent, it was clear that
the Allies had temporarily gained the
initiative in the Pacific. For the first
time since the outbreak of war, they
were in a favorable position to take the
offensive.

The prewar decision to concentrate
Allied resources on the defeat of Ger-
many and to pursue a defensive strategy
in the Pacific — confirmed more than once
since 7 December— did not preclude of-
fensive action in this secondary theater.
Rainbow 5 provided for limited offen-
sives by the Pacific Fleet, and the Navy,
once the shock of Pearl Harbor had
worn off, showed no inclination to inter-
pret the strategic defensive as a mandate
ior inaction. Under the leadership of
A.ing and Nimitz, the Navy sought
eagerly and willingly every opportunity
;o strike at the enemy whenever and
wherever possible. Perforce, these oper-
ations, conducted with small forces, were
argely hit-and-run affairs which had lit-
le more than nuisance value. Stronger
measures were called for if the victory
ained at Midway was to be exploited.
The problem was to settle on an opera-

tion that could be undertaken with the
limited forces available and within the
accepted strategic concept for the Pacific
but which would produce more enduring
results than earlier raids and strikes.

Availability of forces and the direction
of the Japanese advance rather than
abstract strategic calculations ultimately
determined the choice of Allied objec-
tives. The Midway victory had ensured
the security of Hawaii, and, in any case,
the fleet was not yet strong enough for
an advance across the Central Pacific.
So that possibility was ruled out. Simi-
larly, an advance by way of the Aleutians,
where the danger was considered remote
and the possibility of strategic gain small,
was discarded. Only in the South and
Southwest Pacific was the danger real
and imminent. There the Japanese had
advanced along the New Guinea coast
and down the Solomons ladder until in
May they reached Tulagi. And though
frustrated in their attempt to take Port
Moresby, there was little likelihood that
they would abandon altogether their
effort to gain control of Papua, and with
it of the Coral Sea and Torres Strait.
Should they succeed, and should they
be allowed to retain control of the south-

290

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

em Solomons, then Australia and the
line of communications would be in
jeopardy. Thus, the choice of objectives
quickly narrowed down to an operation
in the southern Solomons. The removal
of the threat there was cle arly an
objective of the first importance. (Map 4)
Offensive action in the Solomons was
attractive for other reasons also. Not
only was it believed that such an opera-
tion would fall within the capabilities of
the Allied forces en route or already in
the theater, but, more important, that
it would open the path for a drive on
Rabaul, the major Japanese base in the
South Pacific. The capture or neutrali-
zation of that base, only 700 miles from
Truk and the focal point of the Japa-
nese advance southward, would make it
possible for the Allies to support a drive
later across the Central Pacific and to
initiate an offensive that would bring
the forces of MacArthur and Nimitz
back to the Philippines. Once there
they could cut the Japanese off from the
strategic resources to the south and make
ready to storm the citadel of Japan itself,
if that should prove necessary.

Early Plans

The Navy, with its traditional interest
in the Pacific, took the lead early in the
war in the development of plans to meet
the immediate Japanese threat and en-
sure ultimate victory. Like their Army
colleagues, the naval planners believed
that before an all-out offensive against
Japan could be undertaken it would be
necessary to build American defenses in
the Pacific and assemble large forces
there. It was in the application of this
principle, in timing and in the alloca-
tion of resources, that differences arose.

The Army planners wanted to establish
a line that could be held with minimum
forces, and generally opposed large rein-
forcements to the defense of this line
unless vital American interests were in-
volved. Short of such a challenge, they
were willing apparently to accept the
loss of territory rather than divert to
the Pacific the resources allocated to the
war against Germany.

The naval planners never fully
accepted this view, even when it was
indorsed by the President, and were will-
ing to risk the delay of Bolero in order
to hold the Pacific. Firmly and with
conviction they consistently argued that
until such time as the all-out offensive
against Japan could begin, the United
States must maintain and improve its
strategic position in the Pacific while
taking every opportunity to strike at the
enemy to prevent him from becoming
so firmly entrenched that it would be
extremely difficult to dislodge him. 1 It
was this view that prompted Admiral
King to instruct Nimitz shortly after
the Pearl Harbor attack to extend his
operations westward toward the Fijis and
to undertake raids and limited offensives
wherever possible. 2

The desirability of offensive action in
New Guinea and the Solomons became
apparent early in February after the
Japanese began to move southward from
Rabaul. The necessity for defensive
measures was still paramount, but the
Navy, in recommending the establish -

'The clearest statement of the naval view is to tx
Found in Memo, King for JCS, 4 May 42, sub: Defense
of Island Bases, JCS 48; the Army view in Memo
WPD for CofS, 28 Feb 4a, sub: Strategic Conceptioi
. . . , OPD Exec Files.

3 See above, [pT 205;! Hayes, The War Against Japan
ch. VI, p. 2.

PLANNING THE OFFENSIVE

291

THE JAPANESE ADVANCE
INTO THE SOLOMONS-
NEW GUINEA AREA
January-July 1942

D. Holmes. Jr.

MAP 4

ment of an outpost at Funafuti in the
Ellice Islands, did not fail to point out
that the island could also serve as a base
for future offensive operations. The
Army planners opposed this measure,
arguing that until the United States was
ready to open a sustained offensive "our
island commitments should be limited
to those necessary to secure our routes
to critical areas." Every additional gar-
rison, General Gerow pointed out,
meant the further diversion of air and
ground forces and the use of critical
shipping. 8 The Joint Chiefs finally gave

'Memo, Gerow for CofS, 10 Feb 42, sub: Advance
ase in Ellice Islands, and related papers in ABC
81 Ellice Is (2-5-42),

their approval to the Funafuti project
on 16 March.

While this project was still under dis-
cussion, Admiral King, it will be re-
called, had proposed on 1 8 February that
bases be established also at Efate in the
New Hebrides and Tongatabu. Offered
primarily as a defensive measure to secure
Australia and the line of communica-
tions, the proposal to establish a base
at Efate, like that for Funafuti, carried
clearly the implication of an early offen-
sive in the area. This implication was
not lost on the Army planners and was
confirmed some weeks later when Admi-
ral King explained, in support of his
proposal, that current naval strategy

292

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

included a drive northwest from bases
("strongpoints," he called them) in the
New Hebrides through the Solomons
and New Guinea to the Bismarck Archi-
pelago. A garrison at Efate, therefore,
would serve the double purpose of pro-
tecting the line of communication and
providing a spring-board for a "step-by-
step general advance." Marine forces,
King thought, would make the landing
and capture each position after which
Army troops could move in to occupy
the islands, thus relieving the marines
for the next step forward. 4

Not only did Admiral King's exposi-
tion of naval strategy fail to evoke any
objection from the Army planners who
had only a short time before expressed
strong views on the subject, but within
a few days it received the powerful
sanction of Presidential approval. At a
White House meeting on 5 March deal-
ing, among other matters, with the im-
pending loss of Java and the security
of the line of communication to Austra-
lia, Roosevelt made it clear that Aus-
tralia and New Zealand would have to
be held and that the Navy's concept of
operations in the Pacific would prevail.
The President's understanding of the
Navy's concept was based on a memo-
randum King had written for him. In
it the admiral had repeated substan-
tially the same points he had made to
Marshall in defense of the Efate pro-
posal — the establishment of strongpoints
along the line of communications and
an advance into the Solomons and New
Guinea similar to the one made by the

'Memo, King for Marshall, 2 Mar 42, sub: Estab-
lishment of Garrisons at Efate and Tongatabu, ABC
381 (3—2-42). See also Memo, Marshall for King, 24
Feb 42, same sub, OPD Exec Files; JCS Mins, 2 Mar
42. F or the oc cupation of Efate and Tongatabu, see
abovefch. IX]

Japanese in the South China Sea. "Such
a line of operations," King told the Pres-
ident, "will be offensive rather than pas-
sive — and will draw Japanese forces
there to oppose it, thus relieving pressure
elsewhere." 5

This victory for the naval point of
view was only one round in the long
debate over Bolero versus Pacific pri-
orities which ended temporarily in early
May with the President's decision in
favor of Bolero. 8 But while this debate
was in progress, the Navy staff continued
to develop plans for an offensive in the
Pacific. By 16 April it had produced a
plan which called for an offensive in
four stages or phases. The first, already
in progress, was the one in which the
Allies would build up their forces and
secure positions in the South and South-
west Pacific for an offensive, while en-
gaging in minor action against the enemy
"for purposes of attrition." The next
phase of the Navy plan consisted of the
New Guinea-Solomons operations al-
ready described by Admiral King. Also
called for in this period were "heavy
attrition attacks" against Japanese bases
in the Carolines and Marshalls, a move
that would inaugurate the long-delayec
Central Pacific offensive envisaged in
the old Orange plan. This offensive
would reach more formidable propor-
tions in the third phase of the Navy
plan, when both the Carolines and Mar-
shalls would be captured and convertec
into advanced naval and air bases. Fron.
these newly won positions as well a
those gained in the Bismarck Archipel

"Memo, King for Pres, 5 Mar 42, no sub, Alk
323.31 (i-2g^2 sec. iA) POA; See also Mins, Whit
House Mtg, 5 Mar 42, CCS 031 (3—5-42); Hayes, Th
War Against Japan, ch. VI, pp. 7-8; Morison, Core
Sea, Midway and Sub marine Actions, pp. 146—47.

'See abovejp. 222.|

PLANNING THE OFFENSIVE

293

Training on Australian Beaches for assault operations.

ago during the second phase, the Allies
would then advance into the Nether-
lands Indies or the Philippines, "which-
ever offers the most promising and
enduring results." 7 Beyond that point
the naval planners did not go.

Nothing was done about this naval
plan at the time; Coral Sea and Midway
fully occupied the Navy's attention. But,
interestingly enough, among the meas-
ures proposed to meet the danger at
Midway was one from Admiral Nimitz
to General MacArthur for a landing at
Tulagi by the ist Marine Raider Battal-
ion, then in Samoa, supported by the
naval forces of the Southwest Pacific.

'Memo, WPD (Navy) for COMINCH, 16 Apr 4a,
sub: Pacific Ocean Campaign Plan, cited in Hayes,
The War Against Japan, ch. VI, pp. 7-8.

Such an operation, Nimitz told Mac-
Arthur, would accomplish two results:
It would throw the enemy off balance
at a moment when he was preparing
a major blow in a distant area; and it
would blunt his drive southward toward
the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. 8
With the objectives of this bold
maneuver, General MacArthur was en-
tirely in sympathy. Unfortunately, he
explained, he did not have the forces
to support such a move or to ensure the
permanent occupation of the island,
which was in his area, once it was taken.
But he did have, he told General Mar-
shall, his own plans for an offensive in
the Solomons and suggested that, until

"Rad, Nimitz to MacArthur, No. 0351, 28 May 4a,
cited in Hayes, The War Against Japan, ch. VI, p. 1 1.

294

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

such time as he was ready to put them
into effect, Admiral Nimitz might well
assist him by using his forces in the South
Pacific for a push northward through the
New Hebrides to the Santa Cruz group
east of the southern Solomons. 9

Admiral King, too, thought Nimitz'
scheme impractical and recommended
that he employ his forces in raids against
whatever worthwhile objectives he could
find in the area. Under no circum-
stances, King warned Nimitz, should he
engage in any operations that would
involve the permanent occupation of a
base without first getting approval from
Washington. MacArthur would not
even concede the advisability of raids.
The Japanese, he pointed out, had a
full regiment at Tulagi and could, from
Rabaul, send troops into the southern
Solomons a good deal faster than the
Americans. 10

General Marshall, to whom MacArthur
had forwarded Nimitz' proposal, agreed
that the time had not yet come for an
offensive. But, he reported to Mac-
Arthur, the Navy was "impressed with
the possibilities of an early attack" on
Tulagi and would try to assemble the
forces required. Though the question
of command had not been raised, Mar-
shall assured the Southwest Pacific com-
mander, who might have wondered why
the Navy should be seeking forces for
an operation in his area, that if such
an assault was undertaken, it would be

•Rads, MacArthur to Nimitz, 29 May 42; Mac-
Arthur to Marshall, Nos. 840 and 217, 28 May and 2
Jun 42, CM— IN-8352 and 0469; Memo, Marshall for
King, 6 Jun 42, sub: Early Attacks on Japanese Bases,
OPD 381 (PTO) case 41.

l0 Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 217, 2 Jun 42,
CM— IN— 0469, contains the text of King's message
to Nimitz of 1 June; Rad, King to Nimitz, No. 0100,
1 Jun 42, WDCSA Files, SWPA (6-3-42).

under MacArthur's direction. "All deci-
sions, including the extent to which you
accede to any further proposals by
CINCPAC [Nimitz]," he assured his for-
mer chief on 1 June, "rest with you." 11
If this was the case the Navy appar-
ently did not know it. At the same time
Marshall was reassuring MacArthur,
Admiral Nimitz was telling Ghormley
that he would continue to control ele-
ments of the South Pacific force, even
when they were operating in the South-
west Pacific Area. 12 Thus, the Navy
served notice that it would retain con-
trol of the forces required for amphibi-
ous operations, and therefore of the
operations themselves, wherever they oc-
curred. The Army for its part made it
equally clear that the theater commander
was the supreme authority in his own
area, and, once an operation was ap-
proved and the forces assigned, would
control those forces and command the
operation.

Strategy and Command

Plans for an early offensive in the
Pacific received their greatest impetus
from the victory at Midway. The smoke
of battle had scarcely cleared when Gen-
eral MacArthur took the center of the
stage with an urgent appeal for an imme-
diate offensive to exploit the opportunity
presented by the Japanese defeat. What
he had in mind was not a raid on little
Tulagi but a full-scale assault against
New Britain and New Ireland to gain
control of Rabaul and the strategic Bis-
marck Archipelago. If his superiors in

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 161, 1 Jun 42,
CM-OUT-oog5.

"Instr, Nimitz to Ghormley, 1 Jun 42, copy in
WDCSA files, SWPA (6-1-42).

PLANNING THE OFFENSIVE

295

Washington would give him, in addition
to the three divisions he already had,
a division trained for amphibious opera-
tions (presumably marines) and the two
carriers he had asked for so often, he was
ready, he announced, to move out imme-
diately. With confidence, he predicted
he would quickly recapture the Bis-
marcks and force the Japanese back to
Truk, 700 miles away, thus winning
"manifold strategic advantages both de-
fensive and offensive" and making "fur-
ther potential exploitation immediately
possible." 13

The initial reaction in Washington to
MacArthur's characteristically bold plan
was favorable. The Navy already had
plans of its own for operations in the
Solomons, which, though more limited
in scope, had similar objectives. The
Army was also considering an offensive,
and General Marshall, only a few days
earlier, had directed his planners to study
the problems posed by operations in the
New Britain-New Ireland area, assum-
ing the use of a Marine division and two
carriers. 14 Thus, during the days that
followed, the Army and Navy planners
to whom was entrusted the task of study-
ing MacArthur's proposals were able to
reach substantial agreement on the out-
lines for an offensive in the Southwest
Pacific.

The plan developed in Washington
called, like MacArthur's, for a quick
campaign against Rabaul. Landings in

ls Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 913, 8 Jun 42,
CM-IN-2264. The development of plans for the
offensive after Midway is treated also in Matloff and
Snell, Strategic Planning, 194T—42, pp. 258—267, and
John Miller, jr., Guadalcanal: The First Offensive,
UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II
(Washington, iQ4Q) Jpp. 8— 31. |

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 10 Jun 42, CM-
OUT-2319.

the Bismarck Archipelago, the planners
recognized, would have to be preceded
by intensive air bombardment of the
enemy's bases in New Guinea and the
Solomons. Only in this way could air
support for the invasion force, an indis-
pensable condition for success, be as-
sured. But where would the aircraft
come from: B-17's could reach any tar-
get in the area, but the Allies had no
fields within fighter range of Rabaul.
Carrier aircraft was the answer and the
planners asserted that three carriers with
necessary escorts would have to be pro-
vided, as well as the B-17's from Hawaii.
The landing itself, the planners stated,
could be made by the amphibiously
trained 1st Marine Division, which, it
was estimated, could be ready in Aus-
tralia by 5 July. Once Rabaul was
taken, it could be garrisoned by Army
troops already in Australia — the 32d and
41st U.S. Divisions and the 7th Austral-
ian — and the area cut off reduced at
leisure. On the touchiest question of
all — command — the planners recom-
mended that the operation be placed
under General MacArthur with a naval
officer in tactical control of the assault
force. 15

Agreement on the planning level was
no assurance that Admiral King, who
was in favor of an offensive but under
different conditions, would accept this
plan. That General Marshall expected
opposition is evident in his warning to
MacArthur, in reference to the aircraft
carriers required for the operation, not
to take any action until he, Marshall,
had had an opportunity "to break ground

"Memo, Marshall for King, 12 Jun 42, sub: Opns
in SWPA; Memo, Street for Ritchie, 23 Jun 42, sub:
Offensive Operations in SWPA, OPD 381 (SWPA)
case 73 and 80.

296

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

with Navy and British. . . ." "I compre-
hend fully the extreme delicacy of your
position," replied MacArthur, "and the
complex difficulties that you face
there." 16

Neither the effort to secure aircraft
carriers for MacArthur from the Navy
and the British nor the strategic concept
of the plan was the main issue in the
debate which ensued. It was the fight
over command that became the crucial
question. Admiral King struck the first
blow when he remarked to Marshall
almost as soon as he learned about Mac-
Arthur's plan that the forthcoming offen-
sive would be "primarily of a naval and
amphibious character" — and therefore,
by implication, should be under naval
command. 17 Marshall ignored this re-
mark. The success of any operation
against the Japanese stronghold in the
Bismarck Archipelago, he asserted, de-
pended on speed and close co-operation
between the Army and Navy forces in-
volved. After enumerating these forces
— including the carriers — he declared
that a quick decision and unity of com-
mand were the essential prerequisites
to success. Further delay might wreck
the entire project.

Everyone agreed on the desirability of
the operation and the need for speed.
But MacArthur, staunchly supported by
the Chief of Staff, insisted that it be
under Army command; King and his
senior advisers that it be under naval
command. MacArthur's argument was
a geographic one. Since the objectives
were in his area, he declared, operational

control should be in his headquarters. 18
The naval position was based on the
concept that amphibious operations
should be under naval command. But
behind this view was Admiral King's
reluctance to give MacArthur any of
the Navy's precious aircraft carriers, and
with them the battleships, cruisers, de-
stroyers, and auxiliaries that would be
needed for their support. 19 On that
point he was adamant and not once
during the war did MacArthur ever have
any large carriers under his command.

Although the naval planners, with
their Army colleagues, looked with favor
on MacArthur's plan and thought to
solve the command problem by placing
the operation under a naval task force
commander subject to MacArthur's con-
trol, they were unable to win over their
immediate superior, Rear Adm. Charles
M. Cooke, Chief of the Navy War Plans
Division, or Admiral King. The plan-
ners, these two believed, had placed too
much reliance on air power. The ene-
my's bases in New Guinea and the Solo-
mons, both King and Cooke asserted,
could not be knocked out entirely by
bombing, and until they were it would
be foolhardy to send aircraft carriers
into the area, within the range of Japa-
nese land-based aircraft. It would be
safer, they argued, to go slowly and
by stages up the Solomons to Rabaul,
eliminating the enemy's bases and air
power as they went along. 20

When MacArthur learned of the ob-
jections to his proposal he quickly shifted

1B Rads, Marshall to MacArthur, 10 Jun 42, CM-
OUT— 2319; MacArthur to Marshall, 11 Jun 42, CM-
IN-3328.

"Memo, King for Marshall, 11 Jun 42, sub: Mac-
Arthur Dispatch of 8 Jun 42, WDCSA File (SWPA),

M Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 16, 18 Jun 42.

19 Hayes, The War Against Japan, ch. VI, p. 15.

"Memo, Ritchie for Street, 23 Jun 42, sub: Offen-
sive Opns in SWPA, OPD 381 (SWPA) case 80; Rad,
Marshall to MacArthur, No. 277, 23 Jun 42, CM-
OTJT-5704; Hayes, The War Against Japan, ch. VI,
pp. 15-16.

PLANNING THE OFFENSIVE

297

ground. Admiral King, he protested,
had misunderstood his plan and was
laboring under a misapprehension. 21 In
his original message, he said, he had
purposely sketched only the broad out-
lines of the plan and deliberately omit-
ted the preliminary steps of an invasion
of Rabaul. Certainly, he agreed, it would
be necessary to gain positions in the Solo-
mons and along the north coast of New
Guinea before committing any forces in
the Bismarck area. He had never had
any other idea.

But on the matter of command Mac-
Arthur would not yield. Repeating the
now-familiar arguments for placing the
operation under his general direction he,
like General Marshall, contended that
"the very purpose of establishment of
the Southwest Pacific Area was to obtain
unity of command." The point was
doubly emphasized by his protest, at the
same time, to the procedure followed by
Admiral King in sending instructions on
operational matters directly to Admiral
Leary, the commander of naval forces
in the Southwest Pacific. Correct proce-
dure would have been for King to for-
ward these instructions to Marshall, as
executive agent for the Joint Chiefs, who
would in turn send them to MacArthur
for Leary. Failure to follow the regular
channels, MacArthur pointed out, made
"a mockery" of the concept of unity of
command, and of the organization estab-
lished for the Pacific less than three
months earlier. 22

If Admiral King had misunderstood
his plan, as MacArthur claimed, so, too,
had the Army planners. Not only had
they construed it as a quick blow directly

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 248, 24 Jun 42,
CM-IN-7976.
"Ibid.

against Rabaul but, with their naval
colleagues, had found it entirely accept-
able and superior to the much slower
process of attacking successively Tulagi
and other Japanese bases in the Solo-
mons and New Guinea before assaulting
Rabaul. To do that, the Army planners
pointed out, would expose Allied forces
to continuous attack from Rabaul during
each stage of the advance. MacArthur's
original plan they thought superior to
King's for it avoided that danger and,
in addition, eliminated the necessity for
taking many preliminary positions.
These, the planners believed, would fall
of their own weight once Rabaul was
seized. 23

Actually, no one had misunderstood
MacArthur, as is clear from the detailed
plans prepared in his headquarters at
this time. His objectives were the same
as King's, but there were important dif-
ferences in emphasis and timing. Mac-
Arthur, it is true, admitted the necessity
of capturing intermediate positions in
New Guinea and the Solomons, a step
King asserted was an essential condition
to the advance on Rabaul. But King
placed much more emphasis than Mac-
Arthur on the capture of Tulagi and
adjacent positions, and envisaged a much
slower advance than did the South-
west Pacific commander. MacArthur's
Tulsa I plan, completed on 27 June,
three days after his second message, pro-
vided for the seizure of Rabaul in about
two weeks, including the time required
for the occupation of bases along the
way. Obviously this plan, which neveT
went to Washington, could hardly be
characterized as a step-by-step advance
such as King had in mind. Even the

"OPD Memo, 22 Jun 42, sub: Estimate SWPA
Offensive, 381 OPD (SWPA) sec. 2.

298

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

General Handy

planning officers on MacArthur's staff
thought the timing of Tulsa too rapid,
and recommended revision. The second
draft of the plan, therefore, completed
on 1 July, provided for a slower sched-
ule, but one which hardly met the objec-
tion. Rabaul was now to be taken in
eighteen days instead of the fourteen
originally allocated, and this time the
plan called for an airborne operation —
though there were no paratroopers in
Australia — and the seizure of Buna as
a staging point for the assault against
Lae and Salamaua. Just how these
places, as well as others, would be taken
and developed into forward air bases
in time to support the final attack on
Rabaul — all in less than eighteen days —
was not explained in the plan. Nor did
General Chamberlin, MacArthur's G-3,
yet know the answer. 24

Despite the significant differences be-
tween MacArthur's concept of operations
and that of Admiral King, it was assumed
in Washington that the debate over strat-
egy had been settled. The only issue
remaining was that of command and on
that Admiral Cooke, the Chief of the
Navy War Plans Division, would not
give way. To all appeals from his own
and the Army planners, Cooke turned
a deaf ear. The Navy, he insisted, must
command and the logical solution was
to turn the operation over to Admiral
Ghormley, commander of the South
Pacific Area. Finally, on 24 June, Gen-
eral Handy made one last effort to per-
suade his naval opposite number to go
along with the recommendation of the
planners. But Cooke stood firm and
Handy had to report that he had made
no progress whatever and that the Navy
would not consent to MacArthur's con-
trol. "Cooke," he told Marshall, "was
very emphatic and stated that he was
expressing Admiral King's decision as
well as his own view." 25 The issue,
Handy concluded, would have to be
settled between King and Marshall. He
could do no more.

Admiral King had not only made up
his mind, but before the day was out
had taken it on himself to direct Nimitz
to make ready for the forthcoming
operations. This alert, sent without con-
sulting Marshall and at a time when
operations themselves were still under
discussion, took the form of a draft
directive from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Though the directive, King explained,
set forth only "contemplated" arrange-
ments, it made perfectly clear his views

"Extracts of Tulsa I and II are in OCMH.

"Memo, Handy for Marshall, 24 Jun 43, sub: Opns
in SWPA, OPD 381 (SWPA) case 76.

PLANNING THE OFFENSIVE

299

Admiral Cooke

on how the offensive should be con-
ducted, and by whom. Nimitz would
command; that was categorically stated.
For the offensive he would have not
only his own and Ghormley's forces, but
also aircraft, ships, and submarines from
MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Area.
The Army, in King's plan, would have
no share in the assault; its role would
be limited to furnishing garrisons for
the islands taken by the Navy and
Marine troops. 28 The next day, 25 June,
King submitted this draft directive to
the Joint Chiefs for approval, and with
it a letter to Marshall stressing the need
for action before the Japanese recovered
from the defeat at Midway and this
"golden opportunity" was lost. 27

On the assumption that there was no
real difference between MacArthur's and
King's concept of the offensive, Marshall
restricted his comments to the Navy's
arrangements for command. These he
found neither practical nor logical. In
an appeal for a genuine acceptance of
the principle of unity of command he
asked King to reconsider. He appreci-
ated fully, he wrote, the Navy's concern
for the safety of its vessels and the great
difficulty of co-ordinating land, sea, and
air action, but he suggested that these
objections to Army command might be
eliminated if the Joint Chiefs defined
the manner in which naval forces were
employed and the waters in which they
would operate. The "lines drawn on a
map" — the geographical argument for
MacArthur's command — Marshall con-
ceded, should not govern the choice of
commander, but he felt, nevertheless,
that the operation which "is almost en-
tirely in the Southwest Pacific Area and
is designed to add to the security of that
area," should be entrusted to MacArthur.
He and his staff, including Admiral
Leary, had been in the Southwest Pacific
for months, Marshall pointed out, dur-
ing which time they had learned much
about the islands and the problems in-
volved in operations there. To bring in
another commander at this time, Mar-
shall concluded, would be most unfor-
tunate. 28 At the same time he told
MacArthur, who was growing impatient
at the delay, not to concern himself
with the question of command. "I am
now engaged," he explained, "in nego-
tiations looking to settlement of the

28 Rad, King to Nimitz, 2306, 24 Jun 42, OPD 381
(SWPA) case 80.

2 'Ltr, King to Marshall, ser. 00544, 2 5 J un 42. OPD
381 (SWPA) case 80.

28 Memo, Marshall for King, 26 Jun 42, sub: Offen-
sive Opns in the South and Southwest Pacific Area,
OPD 381 (SWPA) case 80.

300

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

question of unity of command under
your direction." 29

Admiral King showed no disposition
to abandon his claim to naval control
over the operations against Rabaul. The
original directive to Nimitz, he pointed
out to Marshall, had authorized him to
"prepare for the execution of amphib-
ious operations to be launched from the
South Pacific Area and Southwest Pacific
Area" — just such an operation as was
then under consideration. He reminded
Marshall, too, that he had recommended
an Army command for Europe where
most of the forces would be ground
troops. And by the same reasoning, he
observed, the operation in the Solomons,
which would involve primarily naval
and amphibious forces, should be under
naval control. Permanent occupation of
the area could be delegated to the Army,
but the landings and the assault, King
asserted, would have to be under Nimitz'
direction; indeed, in his view, they could
"not be conducted in any other way."
MacArthur, he thought, could con-
tribute little initially. Bluntly he
warned General Marshall that he was
ready to open the offensive, "even if no
support of Army forces in the Southwest
Pacific is made available." 30 And the
next day he gave point to this threat by
instructing Admiral Nimitz to go ahead
with his preparations for the campaign,
even though there would probably be
some delay in reaching a decision on the
extent of the Army's participation.
Meanwhile, King wrote, Nimitz could
proceed with his plans on the basis that

^Rad, Marshall for MacArthur, 26 Jun 42, CM-
OUT-6596.

"Ltr, King to Marshall, ser. 00555, *6 jun 42, sub:
Offensive Opns in South and Southwest Pacific Area,
OPD 381 (SWPA) case 80,

he would have the use of only naval and
Marine forces. 31

Resisting his first impulse to reply in
kind to King's impolitic note, General
Marshall waited instead for several days
to compose a suitable answer. But while
tempers in Washington cooled, General
MacArthur found fresh cause for irrita-
tion. First came a copy of King's mes-
sage to Admiral Nimitz, then Nimitz'
reply setting forth the forces, which in-
cluded elements of MacArthur's own air
and naval forces, that he would need for
the operation. Finally, MacArthur found
that King was again corresponding di-
rectly with Admiral Leary, All these,
MacArthur saw as clear warning of the
Navy's intentions. To him, it was quite
evident, as he told Marshall, that the
Navy intended to assume "general com-
mand control of all operations in the
Pacific theater." If the Navy succeeded
in this effort, the role of the Army in
the Pacific, he warned, would become
subsidiary and would consist "largely of
placing its forces at the disposal and
under the command of Navy or Marine
officers." This objective, he pointed out,
was the real purpose of the Navy's insist-
ence on controlling operations in the
Pacific, using marines as the assault force,
and relegating the Army to occupation
duties. It was all part of a master plan,
which he had learned about "acciden-
tally" when he was Chief of Staff, Mac-
Arthur told Marshall. Under this plan,
he asserted, the Navy hoped to gain com-
plete control over national defense and
reduce the Army to a training and supply
organization. Having alerted his chief
to the far-reaching implications of this
perfidious scheme, MacArthur pledged

"■OPD Cover Sheet, 27 Jun 42, sub: Offensive Opns
Pacific Theater, OPD 381 (PTO) case 64.

PLANNING THE OFFENSIVE

301

that he would take "no steps or action
with reference to any component of my
command" except under direct orders
from Marshall. 32

MacArthur's attitude was no more
helpful in reaching agreement than
Admiral King's and Marshall made it
clear immediately that he was more
interested in fighting the Japanese than
the U.S. Navy. Whatever the outcome
of the negotiations (and he hoped it
would be in MacArthur's favor) , it
would be necessary, he told the South-
west Pacific commander, to throw all
forces, Army and Navy, into the battle.
MacArthur responded immediately with
the assurance that he would use all the
resources at his command against the
enemy "at all times and under any con-
ditions." Once the decision was made,
he declared, he would co-operate to the
fullest extent. 33

Compromise: The 2 July Directive

By the end of June, it was evident
that neither MacArthur nor King would
give in on the question of command. A
compromise had to be found, and it was
up to Marshall to find one and then
persuade both parties to accept it. He
made his first move on 29 June, when he
replied at last to Admiral King's strong
note of the 26th. In a calm and moderate
tone, he observed that at least on the
essential thing, the necessity for speedily
mounting an operation against the Japa-
nese and pushing it through to a suc-
cessful conclusion, he and King were in

agreement. But neither did he ignore
King's scarcely veiled threat of unilateral
action by the Navy. The implications
of that statement disturbed him greatly
and he told the admiral, in language
almost identical to that he had used with
MacArthur, that "regardless of the final
decision as to command, every available
support must be given to this operation,
or any operation against the enemy."
Finally, he asked King to meet with him
at his earliest convenience to discuss the
problem. 34

It was as a result of the meetings
between the two men — they met appar-
ently on the 29th and 30th — that a basis
for compromise on the troublesome
question of command was finally evolved.
Two solutions were offered by King. The
first was a modified version of the sug-
gestion made earlier by Admiral Cooke,
to give command to Admiral Ghormley
who would operate under the control of
Nimitz. It was King's idea that this
arrangement would hold only for the
Tulagi operation; thereafter MacArthur
would have control of the rest of the
campaign against Rabaul. While this
proposal was being studied, King made
another: to give command of the entire
Rabaul offensive to Ghormley, but to
make him responsible directly to the
Joint Chiefs in Washington rather than
to Nimitz. This move would, in effect,
put Ghormley on the same level as
Nimitz and MacArthur and create a
third command in the Pacific. 35

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 254, 28 Jun 42,
CM-IN-9329.

"Rads, Marshall to MacArthur, 28 Jun 42, CM-
OUT-7356; MacArthur to Marshall, 29 Jun 42, CM-
IN-9591.

"Memo, Marshall for King, 29 Jun 42, no sub,
OPD 381 (SWPA) case 80.

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 29 Jun 42, CM-
OUT— 7501 with attached informal Memo from Mar-
shall to Handy, OPD Exec Files; Memos, Marshall
for King 1 Jul 42, OPD 381 (SWPA) case 80; King
for Marshall, 2 Jul 42, OPD 384 (PTO) sec. s.

302

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

General MacArthur, whose comments
the Chief of Staff solicited, thought the
proposal to shift command after Tulagi
a poor one from the "standpoint of
operational application." The entire
offensive, he thought, must be consid-
ered as a whole and not in parts. More-
over, its success would depend upon the
"complete coordination of the land, sea
and air components," a condition dif-
ficult to attain, he thought, under the
arrangements proposed. To change com-
mand in the midst of operations, at a
time when it was impossible "to predict
the enemy's reaction and consequent
trend of combat," Mac Arthur warned,
"would invite confusion and loss of
coordination." 36 The conclusion was
obvious. MacArthur should be in com-
mand from the start and be responsible
for co-ordination through the responsible
air, ground, and naval commanders.

King's second proposal was not even
sent to MacArthur for comment. Mar-
shall found it unsatisfactory and appar-
ently did not consider it seriously as a
basis for discussion. Instead, he offered
King a counterproposal that skillfully
combined the first proposal with an
arrangement designed to meet Mac-
Arthur's objections to it. The major
feature of this compromise was the divi-
sion of the offensive into three separate
tasks whose objective was the seizure and
occupation of the New Britain — New Ire-
land area. Task one was the Tulagi
assault and would be under the control
of Admiral Nimitz; Ghormley was not
even mentioned but presumably would
exercise direct command. It would start

about 1 August, at which time the
boundary of MacArthur's area would be
moved westward one degree to longitude
159 east to put the southern Solomons
in the South Pacific, thus meeting the
objections of the proponents of the geo-
graphic argument. As before, the Army
would furnish the garrison for the island
after it was taken but the forces would
come from the South, not the Southwest
Pacific. Task Two called for the seizure
of Lae, Salamaua, and the northeast
coast of New Guinea; Task Three, for
the final attack on Rabaul and adjacent
positions. Both would be under General
MacArthur's control, but the Joint
Chiefs would reserve for themselves the
right to determine when command
would pass from Nimitz to MacArthur,
what forces would be used, and the
timing of the tasks. 37

Admiral King met this compromise
plan, which Marshall thought the only
way "we can successfully and immedi-
ately go ahead," in the same spirit in
which it was offered. He still believed
that the offensive should be entrusted
to Ghormley under the direct control
of the Joint Chiefs "whose authority
cannot properly be questioned by either
principal — General MacArthur ... or
Admiral Nimitz." But he was willing to
forego this point "to make progress in
the direction in which we are agreed that
we should go," if Marshall would agree
to defer a decision on Tasks Two and
Three until a later time. Task One,
which favored the Navy, King accepted,
though he preferred placing it under the

^Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. b6i, 1 Jul 4a,
CM-IN-0088.

"Memo, Marshall for King, 1 Jul 42, sub: Joint
Draft Directive for Offensive Opns in SWPA, OPD
(SWPA) Case 80.

PLANNING THE OFFENSIVE

303

Joint Chiefs rather than Nimitz. Mar-
shall refused to accept this change and
later in the day persuaded Admiral King
to accept his original compromise. 38

The Joint Chiefs approved the plan
that same day, 2 July. There was only
one change. Task Two, which originally
mentioned only the seizure of Lae, Sala-
maua, and northeast New Guinea, now
called for the capture of the "remainder
of the Solomon Islands" as well. 39 Thus,
MacArthur was made responsible, with-
out any preliminary notice or discussion,
for an area which would witness some of
the bitterest righting of the Pacific war.

At the same time that the directive
for operations in the Solomons and New
Guinea was approved, Admiral King
gave his consent to two proposals he had
long opposed. The first of these was the
creation of an Army command for the
South Pacific Area, the post which went
to General Harmon. 40 The second was
the Army's plan for the formation of
two mobile air forces in the Pacific thea-
ter, consisting of heavy bombers and
stationed at each end of the line of com-
munications in Hawaii and Australia.
For months King had been insisting that
heavy bombers must be stationed along
the line of communications as well as in
Hawaii and Australia, but he now sud-
denly abandoned his position and agreed
to the Army's scheme under which the
bombers would be available for opera-
tions anywhere in the Pacific "as may
be directed by the U.S. Chiefs of Staff." 41

38 Memo, King for Marshall, 2 Jul 42, OPD 384
(PTO)Sec 1.

"Joint Directive for Offensive Opns in SWPA, 2
Jul 42, OPD »Hi (SWPA} case 83.

"See above,

Chap.

These arrangements completed, Admiral
King set off for San Francisco to meet
Admiral Nimitz — who was slightly
injured in an air accident on the way —
to explain personally to him the plans
that had been made and his hopes for
the future.

Thus was ended the debate that had
consumed much of the time of the Wash-
ington and Pacific staffs and their chiefs
for almost a month. Marshall, who had
never given up the fight for the principle
of unity of command, had displayed
throughout a high order of military
statesmanship. Avoiding the extreme
position of both King and MacArthur,
he had ably defended the point of view
of his own service and fashioned a com-
promise that offered an effective instru-
ment for the prosecution of the war. His
satisfaction with the outcome was evi-
dent when, on the 3d, he told MacArthur
that "a workable plan has been set up
and a unity of command established,
without previous precedent for an offen-
sive operation." 42 That there would be
further difficulties he did not doubt, but
so long as there was the will to co-oper-
ate he was optimistic about the future.
"I wish you to make every conceivable
effort to promote complete accord in
this affair," he told MacArthur. "There
will be difficulties and irritations inevi-
tably, but the end in view demands a
determination to suppress these
man if estations. ' ' 43

To this plea MacArthur replied with
assurances that he would co-operate
fully. And as a mark of this co-operative

41 Ltr, King to Marshall, ser. 00580, 2 Jul 42; OPD
Memo for record, 4 Jul 42, sub: Pacific Theater Mo-
bile Air Force, both in OPD 384 (PTO) sec. 1.

"Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, No. 334, 3 Jul 42,
CM_OUT-o677.

3 Ibid.

304

STRATEGY AND COMMAND. THE FIRST TWO YEARS

spirit he pointed to his invitation to
Ghormley and Maj. Gen. Alexander A.
Vandegrif t, commander of the 1 st Marine
Division, to come to Melbourne to
arrange for the co-ordination of their
efforts in the coming operation. Finally,
he suggested that Ghormley, after he
completed Task One, should be retained
as commander of forces afloat during

Tasks Two and Three. 44 The prospects
of a harmonious relationship between
the Army and Navy were never brighter,
but the task of making ready for the
offensive to come would soon create
fresh problems and renew their earlier
disagreements.

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. C-iai, 4 Jul
42, CM-IN-1306.

CHAPTER XIV

Preparations and Problems

A plan of campaign should anticipate everything which the enemy can
do, and contain within itself the means of thwarting him. Plans of
campaign may be infinitely modified according to the circumstances, the
genius of the commander, the quality of the troops and the topography
of the theater of war. Napoleon, Maxims

In the South Pacific, preparations for
the coming offensive had begun even
before the Joint Chiefs had given their
approval. Before he left Washington on
1 May, Admiral Ghormley had been
alerted to the possibility of operations
and since then had been kept informed
of the discussions between the Army and
Navy planners. Finally, on 25 June, he
received word through Admiral Nimitz
that the time had come to make his
plans. Immediately he called General
Vandegrift and his staff from Welling-
ton, where the 1st Marine Division was
located, to a conference in Auckland.
It was then that the marines, who had
not expected to go into action until the
end of the year, learned for the first time
of the plans to invade the Solomons and
of their role in the campaign. They
would have to be ready on 1 August,
the tentative date for the landing. There
was little time and the division was far
from ready, but the marines did the best
they could, cloaking their preparations
under the guise of amphibious training.

Logistics and Strategy

Assembling the troops earmarked for
the landing presented considerable dif-

ficulties. Only the 5th Marines, division
headquarters, and miscellaneous ele-
ments of the 1st Division were actually
in the theater. Of the other two infantry
regiments, one, the 1st Marines, was at
sea, and the other, the 2d, attached to
the 1st Division for the operation, had
not yet left San Diego. The division's
artillery component, the nth Marines,
was with the 1st, en route to Wellington,
where it was scheduled to arrive on 11
July. The large fleet of warships, trans-
ports, and cargo vessels required for the
operation was scattered from Brisbane
to San Diego. 1

The logistical difficulties facing Gen-
eral Vandegrift were imposing. With
the limited dock facilities at Welling-
ton, it was necessary to combat-load the
5th Marines before the 1st and nth
Marines arrived. These last two, organi-

x This account of preparations is based on a manu-
script history of U.S. Army Forces in the South
Pacific prepared by the author d uring the war and
filed in OCMH. See also, Miller, jpuadalcanal] The
First Offensive, ch. II; Morison, Coral Sea, Midway
and Submarine Actions, ch. XIII; John Zimmerman,
The Guadalcanal Campaign (Washington; Histori-
cal Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps,
1949). The 1st Marine Division at the time consisted
only of two infantry regiments, the 7th having been
detached for service with the 1st Provisional Marine
Brigade in Samoa.

306

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

zation-loaded before they had left the
United States, would have to be com-
pletely reloaded for combat when they
reached Wellington. The first task, com-
bat loading the 5 th Marines, was accom-
plished without difficulty, but the second
proved a nightmare. Plans for handling
the cargo of the eight vessels carrying the
second echelon of the division could not
be made in advance for there were no
manifests. It was necessary, therefore,
to unload, sort the cargo, requisition the
rations and other supplies needed, and
combat-load the eight vessels in about
ten days. The marines themselves, with
the help of a few skilled operators and
limited equipment, had to do the job
working in 8-hour shifts around the
clock. Tired and in poor physical con-
dition after the month-long voyage, the
marines had to work under dishearten-
ing conditions and in a steady cold rain
— this was the winter season in New
Zealand — which disintegrated the paper
cartons and spilled cans all over the
docks. In spite of these difficulties the
division was loaded with sixty days' sup-
plies and ready to sail on 22 July. On
that day the twelve transports with escort
left Wellington to rendezvous with the
remainder of the invasion force coming
from San Diego, Pearl Harbor and
Noumea.

Long before the 1st Marine Division
had completed its preparations, it had
become apparent that the task ahead
would be more difficult than originally
thought. At the time the Joint Chiefs
had approved the directive for an offen-
sive in the South and Southwest Pacific,
the Japanese had not yet begun to con-
solidate their positions in the southern
Solomons and New Guinea. Some Japa-
nese activity had been observed in the

area and reported by the former planters
and civil servants who had remained
behind to serve in the Coastwatching
Service of the Australian intelligence.
But it was not until early July, when the
enemy landed troops on Guadalcanal,
just south of Tulagi, and began to build
an airfield there at Lunga Point, that the
meaning of this activity became clear.
The news was passed on to Washington
on 6 July, where the threat posed by the
new airfield combined with the existence
of the seaplane base at Tulagi was fully
appreciated. Additional information on
Japanese shipping in the vicinity and
the progress of construction on Guadal-
canal did nothing to lessen the fear.
Time was of the essence and obviously
Guadalcanal would be as important an
objective of Task One as Tulagi. 2

It was while this disquieting news was
coming in that MacArthur and Ghorm-
ley held their meeting in Melbourne
on 8 July. The result was a joint mes-
sage to Marshall and King representing,
the two Pacific commanders declared,
their own opinions "arrived at separately
and confirmed by decision." 3 With par-
ticular emphasis, they called attention
to the "marked change in the enemy
situation," their own shortage of planes,
the scarcity of shipping to move men
and material, and the absence of air-
fields and port facilities. The Japanese,
they pointed out, were building airfields
and developing their bases at Kavieng,
Rabaul, Lae, Salamaua, Buka, and Gua-
dalcanal. Both MacArthur and Ghormley

2 Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, 6 Jul 42, CM-IN-
2068. For an account of the Coastwatching Service,
see Eric A. Feldt, The Coast Watchers (Melbourne:
Oxford University Press, 1946).

3 Rad, MacArthur and Ghormley to JCS, iois>, 8
Jul 42, OPD Exec Files.

PREPARATIONS AND PROBLEMS

307

doubted that the Allies with their piti-
fully inadequate resources and lack of
airfields would be able to gain and main-
tain air supremacy in the objective area.
"The successful accomplishment of the
operation," they told the Joint Chiefs,
"is open to gravest doubts."

Ghormley, like MacArthur, disliked
the idea of breaking up the operation
against Rabaul into separate parts and
joined him in opposing it before the
Joint Chiefs. Once begun, the two men
argued, the entire offensive should be
carried forward to its conclusion in one
continuous movement. Failure to do so
would expose the assault forces to coun-
terattack from Rabaul and constitute a
danger of the greatest magnitude. Task
One, therefore, should be postponed, the
Pacific commanders told Marshall and
King, until the means required to exe-
cute all three tasks had been assembled.
Admiral Nimitz, in commenting on the
proposal, argued against postponement. 4

The MacArthur-Ghormley message
created a most unfavorable impression
in Washington. Admiral King expressed
the views of many when he pointed out
that MacArthur, who only a short time
before was proposing to strike out boldly
and swiftly for Rabaul, "now, confronted
with the concrete aspects of the prob-
lem," claimed with Ghormley that even
the much more limited operation against
Tulagi could not be undertaken without
considerably more air power and ship-
ping. 5 To the naval planners, the fact
that the Japanese were consolidating

their positions in the Solomons seemed
to call for speed, not delay. Rather than
wait until all three tasks could be pushed
through in one continuous movement,
they thought that Task One was now
more urgent than ever and that the
enemy must be ejected from the south-
ern Solomons before he could move
against the Allied line of communica-
tion. MacArthur, it was admitted, did
not have the means at hand for Tasks
Two and Three, but these, they felt,
would have to be provided later by the
Army. Task One must be launched
without delay; planning for the other
two should be completed as soon as
possible.

General Marshall accepted the Navy
view without argument and agreed that
MacArthur would need more aircraft
and transportation before he could begin
his own operations. In his reply to the
Southwest Pacific commander, therefore,
he held out the promise of additional
support for Tasks Two and Three, but
made it clear that even if this support
was not forthcoming because of condi-
tions elsewhere he was to push vigorously
the preparations and detailed planning
for these tasks. Task One, King and
Marshall announced, was to proceed as
planned. They did not, they told Mac-
Arthur and Ghormley, "desire to coun-
termand operations already under way,"
but, in recognition of the limited means
in the Pacific, they asked the two com-
manders to submit requests for the means
"absolutely essential to the execution of
Task One." 8

*Ltr, Spruance to Hoover, 17 Jul 59, OCMH.
Spruance was chief of staff to Nimitz at the time.

'Memos, King for Marshall, 10 Jul 42, sub: Mac-
Arthur-Ghormley Dispatch, and Cooke to King, 9
July 42, same sub, both in OPD 381 (PTO) sec. 2.

"Rad, JCS to MacArthur and Ghormley, 2100, 10
Jul 42, OPD 381 (PTO) sec a. The Joint Chiefs
meeting of this date, their 24th, was the first one in
which the coming offensive was discussed.

308

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The Pacific versus Europe

At the same time that the Army and
Navy chiefs in Washington were resist-
ing the appeals from their Pacific com-
manders for additional support and a
more massive offensive, they found them-
selves arguing, by a curious twist of
circumstances, for a reversal of the
Europe-first strategy developed before
the war and confirmed at the Arcadia
Conference in December 1941-January
1942. The background of this startling
proposal lies in the decision, reaffirmed
in June, (a) to invade the European
continent in the fall of 1942 in the
event the Red Army suffered disastrous
reverses (Sledgehammer) and (b) to
mount a major invasion of the Conti-
nent in 1943 (Roundup) . Bolero, the
concentration of forces in England for
the invasion, applied to both operations. 7
Upon this project General Marshall and
his staff had put most of their energies
for months and when early in July the
British, faced with threats of disaster in
the Middle East and North Africa, pro-
posed that plans for the possible invasion
of the Continent in 1942 (Sledgeham-
mer) be abandoned and North Africa
be invaded instead, the Chief of Staff
reacted with considerable vigor. He had
opposed such an invasion earlier and
still did on the ground that it was an
indecisive operation that would scatter
American forces, drain away Allied re-

'Though the 194s operation was contingent on a
major Soviet defeat, President Roosevelt had vir-
tually promised Molotov at the end of May that the
Allies would open a second front that year. The
British were far from sanguine about such an opera-
tion, and there was considerable doubt in the Ameri-
can staff about the feasibility of the operation.
Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, pp. 568-70, 577;
Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, 1941—41, pp.
233-34-

sources, and jeopardize both the main
assault in Europe in 1943 (Roundup)
and the American position in the Pacific.
If the British refused to go through with
Sledgehammer, therefore, the United
States should, Marshall argued, turn its
full attention to Japan. Tearing a page
from MacArthur's book, he pointed out
that such a move would have many
advantages, that it would receive the
strong support of the American people,
and, after a second front in Europe,
would be the most effective way to
relieve pressure on Russia. 8 The Joint
Chiefs, he concluded, should unite in
recommending this course to the
President.

Admiral King was more than willing
to join forces with his Army colleague.
Though he accepted and supported the
strategy which gave priority to the war
in Europe, King had always placed
greater emphasis than Marshall on the
importance of holding and maintaining
a strong position in the Pacific. More-
over, his conception of a defensive strat-
egy in the war against Japan included
active measures and much larger forces
than the Army was willing to put into
that theater. Early in May, before Coral
Sea and Midway and when the threat
in the Pacific had loomed so large,
Admiral King had argued unsuccessfully
against the build-up in Britain. Though
that crisis had passed, King, like Mac-
Arthur, saw in the renewed Japanese
activity a fresh threat which would
require larger efforts in the Pacific. It
was natural therefore that Admiral

8 Mins, JCS Mtg, 10 Jul 42; Rad, MacArthur to
Marshall, No. 176, 8 May 42, cited in ch. IX above;
Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, p. 434. For a more de-
tailed account of these discussions, see Matloff and
Snell, Strategic Planning, 1941—41, pp. 187-90,
232-49.

PREPARATIONS AND PROBLEMS

309

King should welcome the strange rever-
sal of roles that made Marshall champion
of the Pacific cause. Readily he accepted,
with minor modifications, the memoran-
dum Marshall had prepared urging on
the President a change in the basic
strategy of the war if the British per-
sisted in their refusal to undertake
Sledgehammer. 9

This threat of a shift away from
Europe and toward the Pacific, used
later as a strategem in debate with the
British, was apparently seriously intended
at this time. The "Hitler- first" strategy
and the build-up of forces in the British
Isles for an early invasion of the Conti-
nent, which General Marshall had con-
sistently advocated and defended, was
based on the recognized military prin-
ciple of concentration of force. Rather
than violate that principle and open a
major and costly offensive that could
produce no decisive results against Ger-
many, Marshall was willing to turn tem-
porarily to the lesser enemy and the
secondary theater. It was not the course
he preferred, but at least it would avoid
the dispersion of American resources
and manpower and would bring about
the defeat of one of the Axis Powers.
He hoped, he told the President frankly,
that the British would give in rather
than see the United States go its own
way but he was ready, if they did not,
"to turn immediately to the Pacific with
strong forces and drive for a decision
against Japan." 10

To President Roosevelt at Hyde Park,

this unexpected recommendation from
his chief military and naval advisers for
a drastic revision in American strategy
came as a complete surprise. Immedi-
ately he asked for a detailed and com-
prehensive statement of the plans they
had made for such a shift, to be ready
"this afternoon" — it was then Sunday,
12 July. 11 This statement, he directed,
should include estimates of the time
required to transfer ships, planes, and
men to the Pacific and the effect of the
move on the war in every theater. The
request was an impossible one, and
perhaps the President knew that. No
one had forseen so sudden and basic a
reversal in strategy and there were no
studies of the kind now required.
Nevertheless, while their staffs worked
feverishly to produce the information
desired, the Joint Chiefs submitted a
preliminary and hasty study to the Presi-
dent. After outlining the adjustments
that would have to be made and the
effect of the proposed strategy on the
military efforts of the British and
Russians, the Joint Chiefs recommended
that, after the capture of Rabaul, the
United States should concentrate its
forces in a drive northwest through Truk,
Guam, and Saipan. As a substitute, or,
simultaneously, if conditions were favor-
able, they suggested the route through the
Malay Barrier and Borneo to the Philip-
pines. This program was admittedly an
inadequate response to Roosevelt's re-
quest for the Pacific alternative, but it
was the best that could be done in the
short time allotted. 12

"Memo, Marshall and King for Roosevelt, 10 Jul 42,
no sub, OPD 381 (Gen) case 73.

"Memo, Marshall for Roosevelt, 10 Jul 42, sub:
British Proposal Relative to Bolero, OPD Exec Files.
See also, Stimson and Bundy On Active Service, p.
4*4-

11 Tel Msg, President to Marshall and King,
recorded in Memo, Col John R. Deane for King, 12
Jul 42, OPD Exec Files.

"Memo, JCS for President, 12 Jul 4a, sub: Pacific
Opns, OPD 381 (Gen) case 73.

110

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

The merits of the Joint Chief's pro-
posal and of the staff studies initiated by
the President's request were to prove
shortly a matter of no consequence. By
14 July the President had made up his
mind. "I want you to know," he told
Marshall then, "that I do not approve
the Pacific proposal." 13 Instead Marshall
and King were to go to London with
Hopkins immediately — the 16th was sug-
gested — to work out some arrangement
with the British. A North African in-
vasion, he gave Marshall to understand,
was a definite possibility if the British
could not be persuaded to adhere to
Sledgehammer.

The next morning, after Roosevelt's
return to Washington, Marshall saw the
President at the White House and was
left in no doubt about his views. The
proposal to turn to the Pacific, Mr. Roose-
velt said, was "a red herring" whose
purpose, he implied, was something other
than that stated in the Marshall-King
memorandum. So strongly did he feel
on this subject that he even suggested
that "the record should be altered so
that it would not appear in later years
that we had proposed what had
amounted to the abandonment of the
British." 1 * That night he told Hopkins,
"If we cannot strike at Sledgehammer,
then we must take the second best — and
that is not the Pacific. There we are
conducting a successful holding war." 15

Thus, when Marshall and King left
for London with Hopkins they did so
with the clear understanding that the

"Tel Msg, Roosevelt to Marshall, 14 Jul 42, WDCSA
Files (Bolero). Churchill's attitude is stated in a
letter of 12 July to Field Marshal Dill in Churchill,
The Hinge of Fate, p. 438.

"Memo, Marshall for King, 15 Jul 42, no sub,
WDCSA 381 (War Plans).

"Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, p. 602.

President would support their efforts to
gain acceptance of Sledgehammer but
would not tolerate any ultimatum to the
British. "It is of the utmost importance,"
he told the three delegates, "that we
appreciate that defeat of Japan does not
defeat Germany and that American con-
centration against Japan this year or in
1943 increases the chance of complete
German domination of Europe and
Africa." 16 The defeat of Germany, on
the other hand, would surely result,
Roosevelt believed, in the defeat of the
Japanese enemy, "probably without fir-
ing a shot or losing a life." Again, the
basic strategy of the war had been
confirmed.

What course would the United States
have followed in the Pacific had the
President accepted the recommendation
of his military advisers in July 1942? No
definite answer is possible, of course, but
in the studies initiated by the President's
request for a comprehensive statement of
the Pacific alternative can be found a
clear statement of the strategy contem-
plated. Obsolete before they were com-
pleted on 15 July, these studies are,
nevertheless, of interest in revealing the
Army planners' views and the estimates
on which these views were based. 17

First, the planners considered possible
alternatives to Bolero — North Africa,
Norway, the Middle East, and others —
and dismissed them all for various rea-
sons. The Pacific, they decided, offered
the greatest possibilities and in support
of this view they attributed to the Japa-
nese a strength that was so far from real-

" Memo, Roosevelt for Hopkins, Marshall, and
King, 16 Jul 43, sub: Instrs for London Conf, WDCSA
381, printed in Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins,
pp. 603-05.

"OPD, Statement of Present Basic Strategy, with
Inch, 15 Jul 42, OPD Exec Files.

PREPARATIONS AND PROBLEMS

311

ity as to suggest that they had little ap-
preciation of the far-reaching significance
of the Midway victory. The Japanese,
they thought, were capable of extending
their hold in the Aleutians, attacking
eastern Siberia, and seizing British posi-
tions in India. An attack against Aus-
tralia and the line of communications
they considered a real possibility. Even
an all-out assault on Hawaii was not
ruled out. And if the Japanese were
successful in that, they would, the plan-
ners believed, make a determined effort
to drive the United States from the Pa-
cific. "It is possible," the planners con-
cluded, "that, if undeterred, the enemy
may; consolidate and prepare defenses so
effectively that he cannot be defeated by
the forces which we will be able to
operate against him."

To avert this disaster, the Army plan-
ners proposed a 5-phase plan to step up
the war against Japan. The first was
Task One, already in preparation. Phase
2 included Tasks Two and Three which,
with the forces formerly allocated to
Bolero, could begin in November and
be carried through as a continuous oper-
ation under MacArthur. In April 1943,
when naval forces would be available, the
third and fourth phases would begin, the
former consisting of the seizure of the
Caroline and Marshall Islands, the latter
of a drive through the Netherlands Indies.
Phase 5 called for the reoccupation of the
Philippines at an undetermined date.

This 5-phase plan offered little that was
new and was much like the one developed
by the Navy staff in April. Though the
planners overestimated Japanese strength
they, like many others, totally underesti-
mated the vigor of the Japanese reaction
to the Solomons offensive. American
weakness in the Pacific was fully appre-

ciated in these Army studies, however,
and implicit in them was the realization
that the diversion of troops and planes
from Europe would not greatly accele-
rate operations in the Pacific where the
role of the Navy was so decisive. Thus,
the Army planners were unable to sched-
ule operations in the Central Pacific
before April 1943, contingent on the
availability of naval forces. Finally, they
had no plans for operations once the
Philippines were reoccupied. Where to
go after that and what measures to take
for the defeat of Japan were problems
which none of the planners, Army or
Navy, had yet faced seriously. Later,
these problems would become the focal
point of the debate over Pacific strategy.

MacArthur Prepares

Completely unaware of events in
Washington, the theater commanders con-
tinued their preparations for the task
ahead. Under the Joint Chiefs' directive
of 2 July, MacArthur was required to
supply naval reinforcements and land-
based air support for the Solomons
invasion, and to interdict enemy air and
naval operations in his area. This he
readily agreed to do and during the
weeks that followed his Melbourne
meeting with Ghormley, MacArthur's
staff worked out the details for co-ordi-
nating the efforts of two theaters with
officers from the South Pacific. From
his small navy, MacArthur turned over
to Ghormley virtually his entire striking
force, 4 heavy cruisers (3 of them Aus-
tralian) , 1 light cruiser, and 9 destroyers.
On 14 July these warships sailed from
Brisbane under the flag of Rear Adm.
V. A. C. Crutchley, RAN, to join the
South Pacific forces for the coming cam-

General MacArthur and General Kenney

General Eichelberger and General Blamey

PREPARATIONS AND PROBLEMS

313

paign. The submarines in the Southwest
Pacific, though not reassigned, were also
to be used in support of the coming
offensive. Operating out of Brisbane,
the underwater craft would have the
task of interdicting enemy shipping off
Rabaul. The role of MacArthur's Allied
Air Forces was perhaps the most vital of
supporting operations. Before the land-
ings its planes would reconnoiter eastern
New Guinea and the Bismarck Archi-
pelago; thereafter they were to patrol
the north and northwest approaches to
the objective area, while making every
effort to neutralize enemy aircraft in
New Guinea and the Solomons. 18

While plans were being made to pro-
vide support for Task One, responsibility
for which rested on Admiral Ghormley,
General MacArthur made preparations
for the tasks to follow. Airfields in north-
ern Australia and New Guinea were
rushed to completion and planes dis-
patched as rapidly as the fields became
available. These would serve in Task
One and were needed as quickly as pos-
sible. To direct the training and later
the operations of the two U.S. divisions
in his area, General MacArthur asked
for and was given a corps headquarters
in July. Maj. Gen. Robert C. Richard-
son, Jr., who was in Australia on an in-
spection trip for General Marshall, was
the first candidate for the post, but be-
cause of his strong feelings about serving
under Australian command (Allied
Land Forces was under General Blarney)
the assignment finally went to Maj. Gen.
Robert L. Eichelberger. Command of
the Allied Air Forces, with which Mac-

Arthur had expressed some dissatisfac-
tion, underwent a change too, when
General Kenney relieved Brett late in
July. About the same time, Brig. Gen.
Richard J. Marshall, MacArthur's dep-
uty chief of staff and one of that small
band which had come out of Corregidor
with him, took over the supply head-
quarters (designated on 20 July U.S.
Army Services of Supply) from Barnes
who returned home, like Brett, for reas-
signment. That same day, General Mac-
Arthur moved his headquarters further
up the coast of Australia but still far
from the scene of operations. Effective 1
August the boundary between the South
and Southwest Pacific was moved west to
the line agreed upon, longitude 159 east.
(MapJJ\

18 GHQ SWPA Opns Instr No. 14, 26 Jul 42, Hist
Rec Index Cards, OCMH; The Campaigns of Mac-
Arthur in the Pacific. SWPA S eries. I, ch. II; Milner,
Victory in Papua, pp. 47-^8.

1 he Joint Chiefs' directive of 2 July
made necssary also another revision of
MacArthur's Tulsa Plan, last revised on
1 July. The objectives of the plan were
the same as those of the directive, but
the timing and the forces were different.
For one thing, MacArthur's planners
could now assume, somewhat optimisti-
cally, that they would have the Marine
division, the carriers, and the support of
the South Pacific land-based aircraft for
their own operations when Task One was
completed. Also, they would assume that
the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area would be
in Allied hands before their own forces
went into action. There was no need,
however, to revise the scheme of opera-
tions already developed. As before the
campaign against Rabaul was envisaged
as a two-pronged advance in five stages
through the Solomons and along the
northeast coast of New Guinea. The
first three phases, which would take his
troops as far as Lorengau in the Admir-
alties and Buka in the northern Solo-

MAP 5

- 1

159° E

THE BATTLE AREA

August 1942

50 O

I, I I I I I

STATUTE MILES

I0O

iBuko i.

BOUGAINVILLE
Kieta

Shoctland Is. ;£* Ballale

Faisi I
Treasury Is *

Vella Laveila

& X^CHOISEUL

Ontong Java

Rekafa <

SANTA

ISABEL

Gizo
Rertdova

'i FlondaS VMALAITA

GUADALCANAL

t59°E

SAN
CRISTOBAL

D. Hot met, Jr

316

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

mons, would complete Task Two; the
next two, which called for the seizure of
Kavieng (New Ireland) by the force
moving up the Solomons and a combined
assault by both forces against Rabaul,
would complete the tasks assigned by the
Joint Chiefs. 19

An important feature of MacArthur's
Tulsa plan from the start was the estab-
lishment of airfields at Milne Bay at the
southeast tip of the Papuan Peninsula
and at Buna. These would be required
for the assault against Lae and Salamaua,
and plans for the former were made
even before the Joint Chiefs' directive
of 2 July. Work at Milne Bay began
early in July and continued without
interruption from the Japanese who were
apparently unaware of the project.
When they did learn of it, they landed
troops there late in August and made a
determined effort to seize the base, but
it was already too late. 20

The effort to build an airdrome in the
Buna area developed in a way that was
entirely unforeseen and involved Gen-
eral MacArthur's forces in a long and
costly battle at a much earlier date than
anticipated. Plans for construction of
the airstrip were issued on 15 July after
a reconnaissance of the area, and a spe-
cial task force was organized for the
project. The plan was a complicated
one. From Port Moresby would come
one group, mostly Australian infantry,
traveling to Buna by foot over the
Kokoda Trail, the one passable route

across the Owen Stanley Range. There
it would meet a smaller group coming
in by boat and forming a beachhead to
protect the main convoy carrying the
construction and garrison units. 21

The plan had hardly been completed
and orders issued when reconnaissance
revealed that the Japanese had assembled
a large convoy and appeared to be mov-
ing on Buna. This supposition was
entirely correct. Frustrated at Coral Sea
and Midway and forced to cancel opera-
tions against Samoa, New Caledonia, and
the Fijis, the Japanese had nevertheless
refused to give up their plans to take
Port Moresby. Since a seaborne invasion
was no longer possible, Imperial General
Headquarters on 11 June had ordered
the ijth Army commander, General Hya-
kutake, to make plans for an overland
assault from the east coast of the Papuan
Peninsula, first determining by recon-
naissance whether such an operation was
feasible. This task was assigned to the
South Seas Detachment, and the starting
point selected was Buna. But when Gen-
eral Horii had almost completed his
plans, Imperial General Headquarters
decided that a reconnaissance was not
necessary; Port Moresby was to be cap-
tured by overland assault. Thus, on 18
July the South Seas Detachment was di-
rected to "speedily land at Buna, push
forward on the Buna-Kokoda road, and
capture Port Moresby and adjacent
airfields." 22

The final Japanese plan for the Port
Moresby operation called for a landing

"Tulsa II-A, Joint Basic Plan for . . . New Brit-
ain—New Ireland-Admiralties Area, no date but
probably prepared at the end of July, abstract in
OCMH.

"The Campaigns of MacArthur in the Pacific,
SWPA Series II, pp . 50—51, 65-68; Milner, Victory in
Papua, [pp. 77-88. 1

a GHQ SWPA, InstT to Comdrs AAF, ALF, ANF,
Occupation and Construction at Buna Bay, 15 Jul 42,
Hist Rec Index Cards, OCMH.

"Japanese Opns in SWPA, p. 132. This account
of the Japanese landing at Buna is based on this
work, pages 132-36, and the sources cited therein.

PREPARATIONS AND PROBLEMS

317

at Buna on 21 July by a joint force of
3,300 men. Support would be provided
by planes from Rabaul and a naval force
of two light cruisers and three destroyers.
On 20 July the convoy left Rabaul and,
despite air attacks from B-17's which
damaged one of the three transports,
reached its destination on schedule, at
igoo of the 2 1st. There was no resistance
and by the morning of the 2 2d the vil-
lage of Buna was in Japanese hands. The
construction troops and the garrison
immediately began to convert Buna into
an advance base, under steady bombard-
ment from the planes of the Allied Air
Forces. At the same time, about 1,000
men, the so-called Yokoyama Force,
moved out toward Kokoda, which they
occupied on 29 July after defeating an
Australian contingent of about equal
strength. To General Hyakutake at
Rabaul they sent back word that the
overland assault against Port Moresby
was a feasible operation and that firm
plans could now be made. But they had
failed to reckon with the difficulties still
to be overcome in the long hard pull
across the Owen Stanley Range.

Beaten to the punch at Buna and faced
with a new threat to Port Moresby, Gen-
eral MacArthur put aside thoughts of
Task Two to concentrate on the job of
driving the enemy back along the Kokoda
Trail and out of his newly won position
along the coast. Until this was accom-
plished, he would be unable to begin the
assault against Lae and Salamaua and
inaugurate Task Two of the Joint Chiefs'
directive.

There was concern in Washington also
over this fresh Japanese advance. With
the invasion already on its way to the
Solomons, the Navy was especially anx-
ious that the Japanese in New Guinea

be contained and that the Allies retain
control of the vital sea lanes in the area.
General MacArthur, the naval planners
felt, had not displayed any great enthu-
siasm for the Joint Chiefs' directive and,
in the absence of any information on his
activities and plans, they were fearful
that he might not appreciate fully the
importance of supporting the Solomons
offensive. These anxieties Admiral King
passed on to Marshall with the sugges-
tion that MacArthur be asked what plans
he had to hold the Japanese advance in
New Guinea. The Chief of Staff, though
he felt that King's assumption that Mac-
Arthur had not taken all measures to
counter the Japanese threat was scarcely
justified, accepted the suggestion and
that same day, 31 July, queried
MacArthur on the subject. 23

MacArthur's response was long and
detailed. In it he explained what he had
done and was doing to stop the Japanese
and outlined his plans for the develop-
ment of bases in New Guinea. Unfor-
tunately, he explained, he did not have
enough transports to move the needed
troops forward from Australia as quickly
as he would wish — the 7 th Australian
Division and three brigades were under
orders for New Guinea — but if the ships
could be furnished he would speedily
regain Buna. The remainder of the mes-
sage was devoted to an explanation of
the Tulsa plan. Task One, he believed,
would be completed by the time he
reached Buna — it was, but at a much
later date than anyone else had esti-
mated — and he would then start Task

"Memos, King for Marshall, 31 Jul 42, sub: Japa-
nese Opns in New Guinea; Marshall for King, 1 Aug
42, same sub; Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, No. 384,
31 Jul 42, all in OPD 381 (SWPA) case 92.

318

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Two, "if the Marines with their amphib-
ious equipment can be used." 24 Also
needed, he made clear, would be the
carriers and the land-based bombers of
the South Pacific. With them he was
confident he could complete Tasks Two
and Three rapidly.

Final Preparations

The brief crisis brought on by the
British proposal to substitute a North
African invasion for Sledgehammer,
coming as it did in the midst of prepara-
tions for the Solomons offensive, had
momentarily held out the possibility of
a greatly enlarged effort in the Pacific
and an end to the Army's reluctance to
commit its forces there. The President's
decision abruptly restored the status quo
so far as the claims of the Pacific theater
in relation to the requirements of other
theaters were concerned, but left unre-
solved the problem of reinforcements
for the offensive ahead. This problem,
first raised by MacArthur and Ghormley
on 8 July and suspended briefly while
the Pacific alternative was under discus-
sion, was reopened by Admiral King on
14 July when he sent to General
Marshall a request from Nimitz for three
antiaircraft regiments to be used in the
Solomons. Next day, in the conviction
that the situation was too serious to per-
mit delay and that the powerful Japa-
nese forces assembling at Rabaul spelled
trouble for the South Pacific commander,
King urged General Marshall to recon-
sider the Army's decision. In addition
to the antiaircraft regiments he wanted
Marshall to order MacArthur to make
additional garrison troops available if

"Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, Q-147, a Aug 42,
OPD 381 (SWPA) case 92.

needed to reinforce those from the South
Pacific. 25

The request for garrison forces from
MacArthur's area was turned down flatly,
that for antiaircraft units was met by the
offer of a regiment to replace those at
Bora Bora and Tongatabu, which would
be moved forward to the Solomons.
Though King had accepted this offer
conditionally before his departure for
London with Marshall, it brought strong
objections from Ghormley and Nimitz,
who wanted a steady flow of troops and
planes to replace those lost when the
battle began. Unless this was done,
Nimitz wrote, "not only will we be un-
able to proceed with Tasks Two and
Three of this campaign, but we may be
unable even to hold what we have
taken." 26 The Army was adamant in its
opposition and maintained steadfastly
that it could not send reinforcements to
the South Pacific Area without cutting
deeply into commitments elsewhere. 27

Actually, nothing done at this time
could have had any immediate effect on
Admiral Ghormley's plan or on the cam-
paign ahead; already the forces for the
invasion were assembling in the South
Pacific. Ever since his return from Mel-
bourne on 9 July, Ghormley and his staff
had been perfecting their plans and com-
pleting their preparations. On the 10th
he had received his orders from Nimitz
together with a list of the ground, air,
and naval forces he would have for the

"Memos, King for Marshall, 15 Jul 42, sub: Gar-
rison Forces for Solomons; 14 Jul 42, sub: AAA Units
in South Pacific, both in WDCSA Files (SWPA).

"Memo, Vice Adm Russell Willson for Lt Gen
Joseph T. McNarney, (both acting for their chiefs
in London), 22 Jul 42, sub: Reinforcements for South
Pacific, WDCSA File (SWPA).

"For the papers dealing with this decision, see
WDCSA Files (SWPA) and OPD 3SO.2 (PTO) cases
21 and 30.

PREPARATIONS AND PROBLEMS

319

operation. These included, in addition
to the ist Marine Division, three carrier
task groups built around the Saratoga,
Enterprise, and Wasp (the first two were
at Pearl, the Wasp at San Diego) , the
additional B-17's from the Hawaiian
Mobile Air Force, the land-based aircraft
of the South Pacific Area (altogether
291 aircraft of various types) , and a
large number of warships, transports,
and cargo vessels. 28

On receipt of Nimitz' order, prepara-
tions for the coming offensive were inten-
sified. The development of airfields in
the New Hebrides, where the B-17's
would base, was given highest priority.
By the end of the month two strips, each
5,000 feet long and 150 feet wide, were
almost ready. The one at Efate had been
built in three weeks; the one at Espiritu
Santo in twelve days. Both were within
striking distance of the objective.

Meanwhile the planning staff had com-
pleted its work and on 16 July Admiral
Ghormley issued the basic plan for the
seizure of Guadalcanal and Tulagi. Two
major task forces were organized, the
Expeditionary Force under Admiral
Fletcher and the Air Force under Ad-
miral McCain, both responsible directly
to Ghormley. Fletcher's force included
virtually all the ships and troops assigned
to the operation, with responsibility for
the amphibious forces and the landing
itself going to Admiral Turner who was
under Fletcher. The three carrier groups
were also a part of Fletcher's force but
were commanded directly by Rear Adm.
Leigh Noyes. Admiral McCain's Air
Force included all land-based Army,

28 This account of plans and preparations is based
on the author's manuscript history of the South
Pacific cited above, as well as Miller, Guadalcanal:
The First Offensive, ch. II.

Navy, Marine, and New Zealand planes
in the area. Organized into seven groups
and scattered throughout the South
Pacific, this force had the double task of
reconnaissance and bombardment of the
objective. Neither General Harmon nor
any other Army officer was given any re-
sponsibility for the operation; the top
command was entirely naval.

Admiral Ghormley divided the opera-
tion into three phases. In the first, start-
ing about 27 July, the Expeditionary
Force was to rendezvous in the Fiji
Islands for rehearsal. Phase Two called
for the seizure of Tulagi and Guadal-
canal on 7 August, Ghormley having
secured a week's delay in the start of the
campaign. The final phase, later can-
celed, provided for the seizure of Ndeni
in the Santa Cruz group as an air and
seaplane base. Five submarines of the
Pacific Fleet were to provide support
from 22 July through 20 August by
patrolling the waters around Truk, and
Allied aircraft were to cover the
approaches and support the operations
once they began.

In the three weeks remaining after
receipt of Ghormley's plan, each of the
task force commanders assembled his
force and made his own plans for D-day.
Admiral Noyes's carriers came by sepa-
rate ways. The Wasp had left San
Diego on 1 July with the transports
carrying the 2d Marines. The Saratoga
group sailed from Pearl a week later,
followed shortly after by the Enterprise.
That same day, the last of the Marine
units, the 3d Defense Battalion, left
Hawaii aboard two transports. On the
21st Admiral Fletcher ordered the Expe-
ditionary Force to assemble southeast of
the Fijis by 1400 of the 26th for re-
hearsal. The 1st Raider Battalion, which

320

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

A-20 skip-bombing an enemy freighter.

had transferred earlier from Samoa to
New Caledonia, was picked up by four
destroyer-transports and got to the ren-
dezvous in time, but the 3d Defense
Battalion in Hawaii had to join the rest
of the force on its way to the objective.
From the 28th through the 31st, the
invasion rehearsed off Koro Island in the
Fijis. It was the first time that the naval,
air, and ground commanders had met to
arrange the details of the operation, but
the rehearsals were unrealistic and Gen-
eral Vandegrift thought them a loss of
valuable time. When they were over,
the entire force — eighty-two vessels —
sailed for the Solomons, the carriers
heading for a point southwest of Gua-

dalcanal. Turner's Amphibious Force, in
three great concentric circles with the
destroyers on the outside, made for Sea-
lark Channel between Tulagi and
Guadalcanal.

As this assembly of ships made its way
slowly toward the still-unsuspecting Jap-
anese, the land-based aircraft of Admiral
McCain's force went into action. From
the hardly completed airstrips at Efate
and Espiritu Santo, the Army B-17's of
the 1 1 th Bombardment Group, only re-
cently arrived from Hawaii, began their
daily bombardment of the objective area.
Off to the west and north, over New
Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago,
MacArthur's Allied Air Forces kept close

PREPARATIONS AND PROBLEMS

321

B- 1 7 heading home from a bomb run over the Solomons.

watch over the Japanese. Any unex-
pected Japanese move now might well
spell the difference between success and
failure.

To assemble, mount, and support the
invasion force had taken all the re-
sources of the theater commanders and
left them with precious little to meet an
emergency. MacArthur's requests for
future operations could be deferred, but
the demands from Nimitz and Ghormley
Jor the task at hand were becoming even
.nore insistent. And these could not so
easily be put aside. At the end of July,
Admiral Nimitz and General Emmons,
.vho had repeatedly asked for more air-
:raft, joined forces to request two heavy

bombardment groups to replace the
B-i7's of the i ith Bombardment Group,
which left for the South Pacific on
the 26th of the month. They were badly
needed, Nimitz reported, to follow up
the invasion of Guadalcanal and, in the
absence of most of the Pacific Fleet from
Hawaiian waters, to support the defense
of that area 29

General Harmon, when he arrived in
the South Pacific on 26 July, also found
many deficiencies in his command and

28 Rad, Emmons to Marshall, 26 Jul 42, CM-IN-
9215 and associated papers in OPD 320.2 (Hawaii).
Nimitz' message is attached to Memo, King for Mar-
shall, 1 Aug 42, sub: Reinforcement of South Pacific,
OPD 320.2 (PTO) case 37.

322

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

added his voice to the growing chorus
of complaint. His first requests for serv-
ice and supporting units were turned
down in Washington with the reminder
that the forces in the South Pacific were
to be held to the "minimum consistent"
with the defensive role of the theater.
Meanwhile his requests for air service
units and transports were forwarded to
the Army Air Forces. Arnold was will-
ing to comply with these requests but,
unfortunately, would not be able to
provide the units until the fall. 30

The position taken by the Army on
reinforcements for the Pacific was chal-
lenged strongly by Admiral King on his
return from London at the end of July.
The occasion was furnished by the agree-
ment made with the British and by
Marshall's own statement that the sub-
stitution of the North African operation
(Torch) for the invasion of the Con-
tinent would release planes and shipping
for use in the Pacific. Citing Admiral
Nimitz' need for heavy bombers, Ad-
miral King asked Marshall to review the
Army's decision against air reinforce-
ments "in the light of recent decisions
reached in London." 31 The Army plan-
ners were all for turning down this fresh
demand with the statement that there
were no air units available and that it
was impossible to say when any would
be. But General Marshall held off. It
was now 5 August, two days before the
invasion and he decided rather than turn

^Rad, Harmon to Marshall, 30 Jul 42, CM-IN-
10727. Other relevant papers are filed in OPD 320.2
(PTO) case 5.

"Memo, King for Marshall, 1 Aug 42, sub: Rein-
forcements for the South Pacific, OPD 320.2 (PTO)
case 37. The agreement referred to was CCS 94, par.
e, 24 Jul 42.

down the request, to withhold his answer. 32
But Admiral King had no intention
of letting the matter rest there. Already
he was preparing a list of needed rein-
forcements for the Pacific that would
make earlier requests appear modest by
comparison. This latest proposal was
based on a report by General Harmon
after his first inspection of the Army
bases in the South Pacific and a study of
the plans for the forthcoming offensive.
The minimum Army ground reinforce-
ments needed in the area to comply with
the Joint Chiefs' directive, Harmon had
told Admiral Ghormley, were 2 divisions
plus 2 infantry regiments, 4 regiments of
coast artillery (3 antiaircraft and 1 har-
bor defense) , and 2 battalions each of
coast artillery and 105-mm howitzers.
Air reinforcements, he estimated, should
consist of 6 fighter squadrons (3 with the
new P-38's) , 2 squadrons of heavy, 1 of
medium, and 3 of dive bombers. These
Harmon knew perfectly well were not
available then or likely to be soon, and
he limited his request for immediate
shipment to 3 squadrons of P-38's and
replacements for heavy bombers lost in
action and attrition. The remainder, he
added, should be sent as soon as possible. 33
Admiral Ghormley lost no time in
forwarding Harmon's estimate, in which
he heartily concurred, to his chief in
Washington. Taken with MacArthur's
most recent statement of his plans, this
estimate seemed to King to represent the
minimum requirements for the comple-
tion of Task One and the initiation of
Task Two. He did not expect that so

32 Informal Memo, Marshall for Handy, undated,
attached to Memo, Handy for Marshall, 5 Aug 42.
sub: Reinforcement for South Pacific, OPD 320.V
(PTO) case 37.

^Ltr, Harmon to Ghormley, 4 Aug 42, OCMH;
Rad, Harmon to Marshall, 5 Aug 42, CM-IN-1252

PREPARATIONS AND PROBLEMS

323

large an order could be filled immedi-
ately — shipping was too scarce for that —
but 'it would appear prudent," he told
Marshall, "to commence assembly and
planning for first, the air reinforcements
and second, ground reinforcements in
strengths required to execute plans for
the immediate future." 34

This time the Army planners could
not deny the necessity for reinforcements.
The marines had landed on Guadalcanal
and Tulagi on the 7th, the day before
King had penned his note, but already
the Japanese were gathering forces for a
determined counterattack. Boldly and
quickly they moved down to the threat-
ened area and on the night of 8-9 Au-
gust, off Savo Island, dealt the invading
fleet a mortal blow. In one of the brief-

"Memo, King for Marshall, 8 Aug 42, sub: Mini-
mum Army Reinforcements, OPD 320.2 (PTO) case
37-

est and most disastrous naval engage-
ments of the war, the Allies lost a total
of four heavy cruisers, one of them Aus-
tralian, and suffered other damage which
forced them to retire, leaving the
marines stranded on the beaches without
air or naval support and with only mea-
ger supplies. All of the dire predictions
from Admiral King and the commanders
in the field had come true; all their esti-
mates of what would be needed for the
invasion, made, it should be noted, after
the operation had been decided upon,
would soon prove to be painfully accu-
rate. The Japanese were evidently de-
termined to hold on to what they had,
and at Rabaul were the reinforcements
they needed. Allied reinforcements were
still a long way off, and before they
could reach the battlefield, there would
be other crises both in the Solomons and
New Guinea.

CHAPTER XV

Crisis in the Pacific,
August — November 1942

When a general makes no mistakes in war, it is because he has not been
at it long.

TURENNE

The Allied disaster off Savo Island on
the night of 8-9 August created so seri-
ous a situation that for almost four
months the fate of the Allied offensive
hung in the balance. The Japanese,
though they did not at first grasp the full
meaning of the Marine landings, were
determined to maintain their hold on
the Solomons and New Guinea. Skill-
fully utilizing every means at their dis-
posal and the advantages of interior lines
of communication, they sought time and
again during these months to oust the
invaders from Guadalcanal. It was not
until mid-November, after a series of
fierce aerial and naval battles which
gave the Allies control of the air and
sea, that the issue was decided. But the
Japanese fought on for two more months
in the vain hope that they might yet
snatch victory from defeat. In the end
they lost, but the six months' campaign
gave them time to strengthen their posi-
tions further up the Solomons ladder,
in the Bismarck Archipelago, and along
the northeast coast of New Guinea.
Never again would the Allies underesti-
mate the Japanese will to resist or the
capacity and skill of the Japanese soldier.

Few men in Washington had antici-
pated so vigorous a reaction from the
Japanese. Though every senior com-
mander in the Pacific, with the strong
support of Admiral King, had warned
of trouble ahead if more planes, ships,
and men were not quickly dispatched,
the Army and air planners had stoutly
resisted their demands and maintained
that no more could be spared for what
was, after all, a secondary and defensive
theater of operations. But so strong was
the desire to exploit the advantages of
Midway and check the Japanese advance
toward the Allied line of communica-
tions that the commanders in the field
acquiesced in the decision to attack.
Once the offensive was begun, it was no
longer possible to deny the resources
needed for victory. Against the argu-
ments for European (and North African)
priorities for a future offensive were
now posed the immediate and compel-
ling demands of the Pacific. The conse-
quences of failure were too serious to
be accepted and again, despite the oft-
affirmed "Germany first" strategy, the
proponents of stronger measures and
larger forces for the Pacific won another

CRISIS IN THE PACIFIC, AUGUST-NOVEMBER 1942

325

round in the never-ending contest for
the resources of war.

Emergency Measures

Hardly had the 17,000 men of the
1st Marine Division (reinforced) taken
Tulagi and the neighboring small islands
and seized the partially completed airstrip
at Lunga Point (promptly named Hen-
derson Field) on Guadalcanal, than they
found themselves isolated — without air
or naval protection and with less than
half of the supplies they had brought
with them. The aircraft carriers had
gone first. Short of fuel and faced with
the prospect of hostile air attack, Admiral
Fletcher, on the evening of the 8th, had
requested and been given permission by
Ghormley to withdraw his carriers to
safety the next morning. Admiral
Turner, perforce, decided that he would
have to pull out his amphibious force
of warships, transports, and cargo vessels
also, and so informed General Vande-
grift. This decision had hardly been
made when the disastrous Battle of Savo
Island provided additional impetus for
a hasty withdrawal. By evening of the
gth the amphibious force was steaming
southward, carrying with it the heavy
construction equipment needed to com-
plete the airfield at Lunga Point, the
5-inch guns of the 3d Defense Battalion,
the barbed wire so sorely needed for
defense, and large quantities of ammuni-
tion and food. Virtually a besieged gar-
rison, the marines were in a desperate
plight. 1 The offensive opened so hope-

1 Miller, \Guadalcana l : The First Offensiv e, p. 8i.|
Unless otherwise noted the material in this chapter
dealing with ground operations on Guadalcanal is
based on this volume; that dealing with naval and
air operations on Samuel Eliot Morison, The

fully only a few days earlier already
seemed in jeopardy.

In Washington there was consternation
at the unexpected withdrawal of the fleet
and the disastrous consequences of the
Battle of Savo Island. From Admiral
Nimitz came an urgent request, strongly
supported by King, for more planes, and
from General Harmon came a similar
request for reinforcements together with
a pessimistic report on the situation on
Guadalcanal. "We have seized a stra-
tegic position from which future opera-
tions against the Bismarcks can be
strongly supported," he wrote. "Can the
Marines hold it?" He was doubtful that
they could. The Japanese, he thought,
could assemble their forces quickly and
recapture the island before the Allies
could reinforce. Only "the resourceful-
ness and determination of our own
forces," he told Marshall, would be able
to "foil this attempt." 2

The first problem, everyone recog-
nized, was to provide the isolated
marines with air support. There was
no time to collect the planes in the
United States and ship them out. They
would have to come from resources
already in the theater. But from where?
Admiral Nimitz had the answer: divert
to the South Pacific the heavy and medi-
um bombers allocated to MacArthur
and already en route. Marshall accepted
this proposal immediately and author-

Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942— February
194}, vol. V, "History of United States Naval Opera-
tions in World War II" (Boston: Little, Brown and
Company, 1950); Craven and Cate, AAF IV, ch. II,
and the Marine Corps account, Zimmerman, The
Guadalcanal Campaign.

s Ltr, Harmon to Marshall, 11 Aug 42, copy in
OCMH; Ltr, King to Marshall, g Aug 42; OPD Memo
for Record, 10 Aug 42, sub: Aerial Reinforcement of
South Pacific. Last two in OPD 452.1 (PTO), case 6.

326

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

ized Harmon to retain these planes tem-
porarily if he felt they could be used
more effectively in his area than in the
Southwest Pacific. At the same time,
the Chief of Staff urged MacArthur to
intensify his own efforts to neutralize
the enemy's airfields and to make plans
to send a pursuit squadron to Guadal-
canal. Marshall was interested, too, in
the extent of co-ordination between the
South and Southwest Pacific Areas and
asked MacArthur for a report on that
matter as well as the feasibility of the
plan to rush fighters to Henderson
Field. 3

MacArthur' s reply was both disap-
pointing and reassuring. The plan to
send fighters to Guadalcanal would be
a hazardous undertaking and the chances
of success slim. But if Marshall thought
the measure necessary he would be will-
ing to risk it. His report on relations
with Ghormley was much more encour-
aging. Co-ordination between the two
theaters, he told the Chief of Staff, was
excellent. He had made arrangements
with Ghormley, he reported, to provide
air support on request, but thus far had
received no requests. This was not the
understanding in Washington, but
Ghormley and Harmon, when queried,
confirmed MacArthur's assertions of
harmonious relations. 4

Reassuring as such reports were, they
did not lessen the seriousness of the situ-
ation in the Solomons or diminish the
need for planes and supplies. General
Harmon's estimates of the force needed

for victory, made on the eve of the inva-
sion, were now strengthened, and he
used the occasion to impress them once
more on his superiors in Washington.
Admiral King, too, pressed hard for rein-
forcements, reminding Marshall on the
13th that his earlier requests were still
unanswered and asking for immediate
action to meet the demands from Hawaii
and the South Pacific. 5

The real question at issue between
Marshall and King was the disposition
of fifteen of the air groups (including
three of heavy bombers) originally allo-
cated to Bolero. At the London meet-
ing with the British Chiefs of Staff in
July, Marshall had insisted that, since
Sledgehammer had been canceled in
favor of Torch, these air groups plus
the shipping for one division be set aside
"for the purpose of furthering offensive
operations in the Pacific." 6 King
accepted this statement at face value and
used it as a basis for his demands on
the Army. General Marshall, however,
apparently never intended that this pro-
vision should be interpreted literally.
"I regarded the list of withdrawals for
the Pacific," he told Eisenhower soon
after his return from London, "as one
which gave us liberty of action though
not necessarily to be carried out in full,
and no dates were mentioned." 7 One of
the heavy bomber groups, he did admit,
would probably have to be sent to the

s Rads, Marshall to Harmon, g and 10 Aug 42,
CM-OUT-2792 and 3043; Rad, Marshall to Mac-
Arthur, 10 Aug 42, CM-OUT-go42.

1 Rads, MacArthur to Marshall, 12 and 13 Aug 42,
Nos. C-253 an d 34 1 ! Rad, Harmon to Marshall, 12
Aug 42, No. 768. All in OPD Exec Files.

6 Ltr, Harmon to Marshall, 11 Aug 42, copy in
OCMH; Memo, King for Marshall, 13 Aug 42, sub:
Reinforcements for South Pacific and Hawaii, OPD
320.2 (PTO), case 37.

6 CCS Memo, 24 Jul 42, sub: Opns in 1942-43,
CCS 94, ABC 381 (7-25-41), sec. 1.

*Ltr, Marshall to Eisenhower, 20 Jul 42, cited in
Matloff and Snell, Strategic Planning, 1941-42, pp,
301-02; Mins, JPS Mtg, 16 Sep 42.

CRISIS IN THE PACIFIC, AUGUST-NOVEMBER 1942

327

Pacific but the disposition of the others
would depend on the situation. Thus,
when Admiral King asked for more
planes on the 13th, Marshall readily
agreed to release one heavy bomber
group, but refused to accede to King's
earlier requests. And he stipulated,
moreover, that the bombers — the 90th
Bombardment Group (H) was selected
— were to go to Hawaii, not to the South
Pacific. For the South Pacific, Marshall
told King, the Army was readying 44
fighters and had already authorized Gen-
eral Harmon to retain for his use any of
the 29 B-17's, 52 B-25's, and 9 B-26's
en route to Australia. 8

To the commanders in the Pacific,
these promised reinforcements — the goth
Bombardment Group was not scheduled
to arrive until mid-September — could
hardly be considered adequate. The
position of the marines on Guadalcanal
was precarious, with the Japanese bom-
barding the island almost at will, and in
New Guinea the Australians along the
Kokoda Trail were still retreating before
the advancing enemy. Instead of chang-
ing their plans when the marines landed
on Guadalcanal, the Japanese had inten-
sified their campaign in New Guinea,
bringing in more construction equip-
ment, supplies, and infantry reinforce-
ments. These moves were based on the
view held in Tokyo, largely by the Army,
that the Allied action in the Solomons
was only a reconnaissance in force, a
view that was confirmed by the failure
of the Allies to reinforce the marines

or to make a determined bid for air and
naval supremacy in the days after the
landing. The recapture of Guadalcanal,
the Japanese thought, would therefore
not be too difficult and could be accom-
plished while the Port Moresby operation
was in progress. 9

If the Tokyo planners misread Allied
intentions, so, too, did some planners in
Washington apparently misread the aims
of the Japanese. Because the enemy had
failed to follow up his victory off Savo
Island with a large-scale counteroffensive,
they concluded that he would make no
effort to do so and that the battle for
Guadalcanal would soon be over. It
was none too soon, they believed, to
make plans for Task Two, and within
a week of the Marine landings, on the
basis of MacArthur's Tulsa plan, Gen-
eral Marshall was proposing to Admiral
King that they ask the Pacific command-
ers when Task One would be completed
and Task Two begun. 10 King readily
agreed and next day, 15 August, the thea-
ter commanders were queried about
their plans for the future.

The response from the South Pacific
put to rest any illusions about an early
end to the battle for Guadalcanal.
Though the Japanese had not yet made
an effort to land troops on the island,
the danger, Admiral Ghormley asserted,
was still great. If he did not get reinforce-
ments soon, he told Nimitz and King,
he might lose not only Guadalcanal but
other positions in the South Pacific as
well. Until planes had been based on
Henderson Field, the line of communi-

8 Memo, Handy for Marshall, 15 Aug 42, sub: Rein-
forcements for South Pacific and Hawaii; Memo,
Marshall for King, 20 Aug 42, sub: Reinforcements
for South Pacific and Hawaii. These and other rele-
vant papers are in OPD 320.2 (PTO), case 37; see
also OPD 370.5 (Hawaii), cases 22-24.

"Japanese Opns in SWPA, II, pp. 136-38.

10 Memo, Marshall for King, 14 Aug 42, sub: Early
Initiation of Limited Task Two, OPD 381 (PTO)
case 84.

328

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

cations to Guadalcanal restored, and
men and supplies sent forward, any idea
of further advances, Ghormley warned,
was a delusion. 11

General Harmon concurred in this
view and filled in the details which made
it painfully evident that much more was
needed on Guadalcanal. The Japanese,
he was certain, would make an effort to
retake the island, either by direct assault
or infiltration from New Georgia to the
north. To guard against this contin-
gency he called for large air and ground
reinforcements and for a determined
effort to break through with supplies for
the marines and enough equipment and
gasoline to start large-scale air operations
at Henderson Field. 12

Armed with these statements from the
South Pacific commanders, Admiral King
again called on the Army for reinforce-
ments, as agreed at the London meeting.
By this time Marshall had decided to
send the 90th Bombardment Group to
Hawaii and so informed King. But
ground reinforcements in the quantity
General Harmon had asked for earlier
in the month, and which Ghormley and
King now requested again, could not be
sent without considerably more shipping
than was available to the Army. Finally,
after the Army had agreed to provide a
balanced force of about 20,000 men, the
Navy agreed for its part to contribute
enough ships from its own September
and October allotments to transport
about half of the force. On this basis
plans were made which ultimately saw

the arrival of the 43d Division in the
South Pacific — one regimental combat
team, the i72d, going to Espiritu Santo
to defend the heavy bomber base there,
and the rest of the division to New Zea-
land. Shortly thereafter, the division
was transferred to New Caledonia at a
heavy cost in scarce shipping.

The movement of the division to the
Pacific, completed in November, was
not without incident. The President
Coolidge, which was carrying the i72d
Regimental Combat Team as well as a
harbor defense battalion, blundered into
a mine field at the end of its voyage in
the harbor of Espiritu Santo and sank,
taking with it all the desperately needed
weapons and equipment of the units
aboard. Fortunately, only two lives were
lost in this tragic and unexplained
accident. 13

Long before these reinforcements had
reached their destination, the situation
in the Pacific had taken a turn for the
worse. In the two weeks since the Marine
landings, the Japanese had assembled a
force of about 1,000 men and ferried
them to Guadalcanal, where, on 21
August, they sought to penetrate the
thin Marine line and overrun the air-
field. This attack was easily repulsed,
but the Japanese had other forces ready
at Truk and these they immediately dis-
patched under naval convoy to Guadal-

"Rad, Ghormley to Nimitz and King, 17 Aug 42,
0230, cit ed in Mil ler, Guadalcanal: The First
Offensive, k>p. 8g— 8JT1

"COMGENSOPAC Summary of Sit, 20 Aug 42,
OPD 381 (PTO), sec. 3.

18 Lt. Gen. Millard F. Harmon, The Army in the
South Pacific, pp. 3-4, a narrative prepared by Gen-
eral Harmon at the request of his historical officer,
copy in OCMH. Memo, King for Marshall, 20 Aug
42, sub: Early Initiation of Limited Task Two;
Memo, Marshall for King, 24 Aug 42, sub: Early
Initiation of Limited Task Two. Both filed with
related papers in OPD 370.5 (PTO), cases 9 and 14.
Memo, King for Marshall, 27 Aug 42, sub: Transpor-
tation of 13,000 Army Troops, OPD 381 (PTO),
case 84.

CRISIS IN THE PACIFIC, AUGUST-NOVEMBER 1942

329

canal via Rabaul. Alerted in advance to
the presence of a Japanese naval task
force steaming south ahead of the trans-
ports, Admiral Ghormley sent his own
naval forces, including two carriers, to
meet it. In the Battle of the Eastern
Solomons that followed (23-24 August)
the Japanese lost the carrier Ryujo, a
destroyer, and ninety planes; the Ameri-
cans only twenty planes and the services
of the Enterprise, which was badly dam-
aged. Neither side could claim a victory,
but the Japanese withdrew, only to re-
turn a few days later with the Guadal-
canal reinforcements. More were already
on the way and it was clear that the next
few weeks would witness bitter fighting
on Guadalcanal and along its sea and
air approaches.

In New Guinea, General MacArthur
was having troubles of his own. The
reinforced Japanese garrison at Buna,
despite attacks from the planes of the
Allied Air Forces, was rapidly complet-
ing the airfield and other installations
there. The South Seas Detachment had
meanwhile continued its slow advance
along the Kokoda Trail and by the end
of the month had overcome Australian
resistance and begun the long, hard
climb up the Owen Stanley Range.
Though faced with some of the worst
terrain and weather in the world, the
Japanese troops pushed on, moving ever
closer to their goal. Meanwhile, on 25
August, another Japanese force had
landed on the north shore of Milne Bay,
at the southeast tip of New Guinea,
where a combined Australian-American
garrison was holding the partially com-
pleted air base there. This attack, which
was part of the co-ordinated Japanese
offensive against Port Moresby, was re-
pulsed in less than a week, but the threat

of further Japanese offensives and naval
action still remained. 14

The crisis in the South and Southwest
Pacific and the clear threat of further
Japanese offensives produced in the last
week of August renewed requests from
the theater commanders for air reinforce-
ments. On the day after the Battle of
the Eastern Solomons, Admiral Ghorm-
ley asked once again for heavy and medi-
um bombers, pointing to mounting losses
and the critical situation in the Solomons
as justification. King endorsed this re-
quest and passed it on to Marshall, who
already had a similar message from
Harmon before him. 15

Since the 20th, when King had con-
cluded, on the basis of Ghormley's and
Harmon's estimates, that Task Two
would have to be deferred and had asked
for air and ground reinforcements, the
Army staff had been studying air deploy-
ment in the Pacific. Ground reinforce-
ments had been made available without
question once the shipping was found,
but there was strong opposition to send-
ing more planes. General Arnold in
particular objected to additional alloca-
tions of aircraft to the Pacific as a danger-
ous "tendency toward ever greater disper-
sion of Air Forces throughout the world."
In his view, American aircraft should be
concentrated in the United Kingdom for
the planned bomber offensive against
Germany, not scattered unprofitably
throughout the Pacific. Some 300 Japa-
nese planes in the South and Southwest
Pacific, he pointed out, were holding
down over 800 American planes. The

"This arrnnnt of the New Hninpa rampaign is
based on Milner J Victory in Papua, ch. VIi and Allied
Opns in SWPA, I, chs. III-IV.

18 Rad, Ghormley to Nimitz and King, 25 Aug 42,
0330, OPD Exec Files; Rad, Harmon to Marshall,
25 Aug 42, CM-IN-9889.

330

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

argument was a telling one and was
endorsed by Admiral Leahy, who had
recently joined the Joint Chiefs as the
President's Chief of Staff. 16

The Army planners, too, had been
counting planes in the Pacific. Their
figures, though differing slightly from
Arnold's statistics, constituted an impres-
sive list, showing a total of 161 heavy,
98 medium, and 42 light bombers, and
553 fighters in the theater. En route
and being prepared for shipment were 66
more heavies, 22 mediums, and 257 fight-
ers. Such a computation, combined with
Arnold's cogent argument, confirmed
Marshall in his decision not to allocate
more aircraft to the Pacific. There were
enough planes there to meet the present
danger, he told King, if the theater
commanders would pool their resources
to get the most effective use out of what
they had. MacArthur had already been
instructed to provide aid to the South
Pacific, and Ghormley, Marshall sug-
gested, should call on him in the event
of an emergency. 17 For the moment this
ended the matter.

The quantity of planes in the Pacific
was not the only question at issue; pilot
training, combat fatigue, armament,
armor, and performance of different
types of aircraft were other equally
pressing problems that had to be solved.
There was much dissatisfaction with the
P-400 fighter, the export version of the
P-39. From Guadalcanal had come re-
ports, through General Harmon, that
the P-400 could not climb fast or high
enough and was no match for the Japa-

" Memo, Arnold for Marshall, ai Aug 48, sub:
North African Opns; Memo, Leahy for Marshall, 21
Aug 42. Both in WDCSA (SPA).

"Memo, Marshall for King, 215 Aug 42, sub: Air
Reinforcements for South Pacific, OPD 452.1 (PTO),
case 8.

nese Zero. The new twin-engine P-38
was what he needed, he said, but the
only ones in the Pacific were in Mac-
Arthur's area. Twenty-one had recently
reached Australia and forty-four more
were being readied for shipment. If
Harmon wanted any, Marshall suggested,
he should negotiate directly with Mac-
Arthur; none were available in the
United States. 18 When the request was
made some days later, MacArthur had to
refuse because he did not have enough
for his own operations, but he stood by
his earlier agreement to send thirty
P~39's. "I want to do everything I can to
help you even to the jeopardy of my
own safety," he told Ghormley, "but my
resources are practically negligible. 19

By this time, MacArthur had revised
his previous optimistic estimates for an
early start on Task Two. So serious did
the situation in the Pacific seem to him
at the end of August that he urged,
"with greatest reluctance," a complete
review of the Army's policy on rein-
forcements. "I beg of you most earn-
estly," he wrote Marshall on 30 August,
"to have this momentous question re-
viewed by the President and the Chiefs
of Staff lest it become too late." 20 In
the last two months, he pointed out, the
situation in the Pacific had changed
drastically. The Japanese had decreased
their forces in China and in the recently
occupied territories and were concen-

18 Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 30 Aug 42, CM—
OTJT-9510; OPD Memo for Record, 30 Aug 42, sub:
Fighter Support for Solomons, OPD 452.1 (PTO),
case 10.

18 Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, 3 Sep 42,
CM— IN-0944.

20 Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, 30 Aug 42, No.
C-381, GHQ Hist Rec Index Cards, OCMH. Mr.
Curtin sent a similar message to the President and
Prime Minister the next day. CCS 660.Z (3—14-42),
sec. 2.

CRISIS IN THE PACIFIC, AUGUST-NOVEMBER 1942

331

trating their resources in the South and
Southwest Pacific. The "main battle
front" in the war with Japan, he asserted,
had now definitely shifted to New
Guinea and the Solomons. Far from
planning for further offensives, the Allies,
he thought, should be increasing their
ground, air, and naval strength in that
area to match the rapid Japanese
build-up.

MacArthur understood entirely even
if he did not agree with the strategy that
assigned to him limited forces and a
holding mission, but, he told Marshall,
it was doubtful that even this task could
be accomplished with the forces at hand.
"Holding areas," he pointed out, must
have "sufficient forces actually to hold,"
and their size could only be determined
"by a constantly changing accurate ap-
praisal of the enemy's power; an arbitrary
predetermined strength figure will not
insure safety." Failure to review the
strategic .situation and to meet the chang-
ing conditions, he warned, was to invite
a disaster "similar to those that have suc-
cessively overwhelmed our forces in the
Pacific since the beginning of the war."

In Washington this urgent dispatch,
soon supported by a similar if less elo-
quent warning from Ghormley, received
immediate attention. One copy went to
the President, who discussed it with
Marshall, and another to the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, who turned it and the Ghormley
message over to their planners for study.
Persuasive as MacArthur was, Marshall
showed no disposition to change his
views. In a carefully worded reply, sent
out on the last day of the month, he ex-
pressed his understanding and sympathy
but made clear his opposition, in the
light of "recent decisions involving
world-wide strategy," to further rein-

forcement of the Pacific. "The defense
of the Pacific areas, particularly in air
and naval matters," he told Mac Arthur,
"will depend to a large degree upon the
closeness of the cooperation and coor-
dination of the forces now available to
you, Nimitz, and Ghormley." There
was no misunderstanding the Chief of
Staff's meaning. MacArthur and the
other Pacific commanders would have to
get along with what they had and co-
operate with each other to get the maxi-
mum use out of the forces already in the
theater. No more would be forthcoming. 21

Admiral King took a more serious
view of the situation than Marshall, and,
as so often before, sided with the Pacific
commanders. Again, on 3 September, he
presented the case for Ghormley and
Harmon and repeated their requests for
more aircraft, including the modern
P-38. These needs must be met, he in-
sisted, even if to do so would interfere
with commitments in the Atlantic
theater. 22

Nor did General MacArthur accept
Marshall's decision in this matter. In a
strong response to the Chief of Staff's
message, he rose to his own defense.
Pointing to the Japanese advance along
the Kokoda Trail, he emphasized his
need for naval forces — practically all of
his had been loaned to Ghormley for the
Guadalcanal invasion — and for shipping
to move ground reinforcements from
Australia to New Guinea. These were
essential defense moves, but more than
that was needed. A defensive strategy,
he argued, might lead to further defeats

!1 Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 31 Aug 42, filed
with JCS g6, Japanese Intentions in the Pacific, same
date, ABC 384 (8-31-42) Pac.

"Memo, King for Marshall, 3 Sep 42, sub: Air
Reinforcements for South Pacific, WDCSA (9—3—42)
SWPA.

332

STRATEGY AND COMMAND: THE FIRST TWO YEARS

New P-38's being hauled from the port area to the airfield at Noumea, September 1942.

in New Guinea, with disastrous results
for the Allied cause. What was needed
were the means to open an offensive to
clear the northeast coast of New Guinea
— essentially Task Two, with the addi-
tional burden of taking Buna — as soon
as possible. 23

General Marshall was not moved by
these arguments and appeals. Stoutly he
maintained, and sought to prove with
the statistics supplied by Arnold, that
there were enough planes in the Pacific
to meet the Japanese threat; that the
fighters in the theater were adequate for
operations; that more fighters could not

be sent in time anyhow; and, finally,
that to do so would have a drastic effect
on the plans for Torch. Naval forces
and shipping, Marshall thought, could
be supplied from the South Pacific and
Australia, and he suggested to Mac-
Arthur that he refer his requests to
Ghormley. 24

From the Pacific came quick disagree-
ment with this estimate of the perform-
ance of aircraft and the numbers needed.
Admiral Nimitz pointed out that the
total figures were misleading. The area
covered was enormous, attrition high,

M Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, 3 Sep 42, CM-IN-
0944; Rad, MacArthur to Marshall, 6 Sep 4a, no
number, GHQ Hist Rec Index Cards, OCMH; Rad,
MacArthur to Marshall, 7 Sep 42, CM-IN-s6gg.

M Rad, Marshall to MacArthur, 9 Sep 42, CM-
OUT-302g; Memo, Arnold for King, 5 Sep 42, sub:
Air Reinforcements; Memo, McNarney, DCofS, for
King, 5 Sep 42, same sub. Last two in WDCSA
(9-3-42) SWPA.

CRISIS IN THE PACIFIC, AUGUST-NOVEMBER 1942

333

replacement difficult and slow. More-
over, the dispersion of fighter planes
along the line of communications, dis-
tant from the scene of operations, ac-
counted for a large part of the total. 25

General Harmon, too, took issue with
his superiors in Washington on the per-
formance of his fighter planes. It was
discouraging to the pilots, he observed,
to watch impotently while the high-
altitude Japanese aircraft flew over to
drop their bombs. Even two squadrons
of P-38's in the forward area "would be
a God-send." "Do you think it might be
possible," he asked Marshall, "to whittle
just a little bit from Bolero? I do not
like to unduly press this, and would not,
but for my conviction that it is of real
and continuing importance in the con-
duct of the Solomon-Bismarck action." 26

Harmon's comments on attrition and
replacement, and on the need to rest the
pilots, gave strong support to Nimitz'
observations, but Harmon also empha-
sized, as he had many times before, that
the difficulty in bringing strong air sup-
port into the Guadalcanal area lay in the
failure to develop the facilities at Hen-
derson Field and in the shortages of
heavy equipment and fuel needed for air
operations.

Though Marshall followed up these
and other questions Harmon and Nimitz
had raised, the central problem was still
the deployment of aircraft to the Pacific.
Several committees of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff had been studying this and related
problems for some weeks but thus far
had succeeded only in disagreeing. It

M Rad, Nimitz to King, 6 Sep 42, 0199, WDCSA
(9-3-42) SWPA.

26 Ltr, Harmon to Marshall, g Sep 42, copy in
OCMH. See also Rad, Harmon to Marshall, 8 Sep
42, No. 222, OPD Msg file; Memo, King for Marshall,
1 1 Sep 42, sub: Aircraft Sit, OPD 452.1 (PTO) case 19.

was evident now that before a decision
could be reached the Joint Chiefs them-
selves would have to review the issues.
It was to this task they turned after the
first week of September.

The Debate Over Priorities

The decision of late July, affirmed
during the first week of September, to
launch an offensive in North Africa
(Torch) before the end of the year had
a profound effect on almost every phase
of the war. The cost of this venture had
to be closely calculated, shipping set
aside, troops, planes, and supplies fur-
nished, and plans re-examined. The allo-
cation of forces to the various theaters,
established earlier on the basis of the
Arcadia Conference and Bolero, had to
be studied again and new priorities fixed
in terms of the requirements for Torch.
And all this had to be done while the
desperate battle for Guadalcanal and
northeast New Guinea was raging and
when the need for planes and ships in
the Pacific was most urgent. 27

Work on these problems began early
in August and it soon became evident
that, as in previous discussions, there was
a wide difference of opinion between the
Army and the Navy on the apportion-
ment of resources, especially aircraft, to
the Pacific. The question at issue again
was the disposition of the fifteen air
groups — actually fourteen since one
heavy bombardment group was soon to
be sent to Hawaii — originally allotted to
Bolero and to become available during
the next six or seven months. General

" For a full account of the cost of Torch see Mat-
loff and Snell, Strategic Planning, 1941—42, ch. XIV;
Leighton and Coakley, Global Logistics and Strategy,
ch. XVII.

334

STRATEGY AND COMMAND. THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Marshall and General Arnold took the
view that until the requirements of
Torch, the Middle East, and the United
Kingdom were met, no decision could
be made on the disposition of these
planes. Admiral King, while admitting
the priority of Torch and even the Mid-
dle East, countered with the argument
that the planes should go where the need
was greatest. Thus, the debate was really
one of priorities.

It was the Joint Staff Planners who
first reviewed this problem. Responding
to a suggested order of priority from the
British Chiefs of Staff, the planners took
the position held by their respective
service chiefs. Expanding on the theme
propounded by Admiral King, the Navy
members argued that there was no rea-
son why the United Kingdom should
have a greater claim on Allied resources
than the Pacific. Against the needs for
a future offensive from the British base
they placed the urgent requirements of
the South and Southwest Pacific where
the situation was critical and where
planes might well make the difference
between victory and defeat. 28

The Army and Air Force planners
were equally convinced than an early
offensive against Germany with the full
power of Allied ground and air forces
was the most effective way to bring about
the defeat of the Axis. Moreover, they
argued, the Pacific would have approxi-
mately 5,000 planes by April 1943, as
opposed to an estimated total of 4,000
for the Japanese. And these 4,000 in-
cluded the air complements of Japan
itself and the neighboring islands. The

commanders in the Pacific, the Army
planners thought, should certainly be
able, with a superiority of 1,000 planes,
to carry out their defensive mission. 29
This argument by numbers overlooked
a number of important factors: the per-
formance of American aircraft, the vast
extent of the Pacific area, the number of
planes immobilized but required in
Hawaii, Australia, and along the line of
communications, and the more technical
problems of replacements, attrition, un-
trained crews, and others which the air
officers in the theater were finding so
frustrating.

Unable to resolve their differences, the
planners submitted the dispute to their
superiors for a decision on 5 September.
But the views on which the Army and
Navy planners had split were held as
strongly by their chiefs, and the discus-
sion at the next meeting of the JCS
simply reflected and extended the argu-
ments of the subordinate committees. 30
The Navy members insisted on the lit-
eral interpretation of the July agreement
relative to the fifteen air groups and
stressed the urgency of sending air rein-
forcements to the South Pacific, at the
expense of Torch if need be. The Army
refused to accept this view, pointing out
that the July agreement "had been re-
corded only as an agreement for the
transfer of planes from one jurisdiction
to another." On the priority of Torch
and the Middle East Marshall refused to
budge, though he was willing, like

"Memo, Handy for Marshall, 6 Aug 42, sub:
Torch OPD Exec Files; Mins, CPS Mtg, 7 Aug 42;
Min, JCS Mtg, 11 Aug 42; Mins, CCS Mtg, 13 Aug 42.

^JPS 48, 28 Aug 42, sub: Deployment of Air Forces
in Pacific; OPD Notes on 320! J PS Mtg, 2 Sep 42,
sub: Deployment of Air Forces in Pacific. Both in
ABC 381 (9-25— 41), sec. 3.

30 JCS 97, 5 Sep 42, sub: Deployment of Air Forces
in Pacific, ABC 381 (9—25—41), sec. 3; Mins, JCS
Mtg, 8 Sep 42.

CRISIS IN THE PACIFIC, AUGUST-NOVEMBER 1942

335

Leahy, to reserve judgment on the
United Kingdom. But, he reiterated,
the Atlantic was the area in which the
United States could get "the greatest
return for the investment of forces." 31

General Arnold took an even stronger
position than his chief. Though ordi-
narily silent in the deliberations of high
strategy, he was eloquently articulate on
the deployment of aircraft. The build-
up in Britain of a strong air force with
which to bomb Germany out of the war
was his chief interest and, in his view,
took precedence over all other matters.
Torch, he argued, was the beginning of
the offensive against Germany and was
closely related to the air offensive from
the United Kingdom which would divert
German aircraft from North Africa.
Both, therefore, should have the same
priority, General Arnold asserted, and
he cited messages from Eisenhower,
Spaatz, Maj. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.,
and Maj. Gen. Mark W. Clark, in sup-
port of this view. The Pacific, he be-
lieved, had enough planes, if only they
were properly used, and he opposed send-
ing more until the needs for Torch, the
United Kingdom, and the Middle East
— which bore the same relation to Torch
as the bomber offensive from Britain —
were met. 32

When challenged by Admiral King,
Arnold went even further and asserted
that the diversion of aircraft from Torch
or the United Kingdom constituted a
violation of the accepted Allied strategy

for the war and would seriously jeopar-
dize the success of the North African
venture. To this King replied that since
Torch had not yet been launched and
the Middle East did not seem to be in
danger — a view that Marshall and Leahy
seemed to support — the Pacific ought
not to be relegated to the bottom of the
priority list. Finally, after a fruitless dis-
cussion at the 15 September meeting of
the Joint Chiefs, when Arnold argued
that facilities in the Pacific were hardly
adequate for the planes already in the
area, much less the reinforcements King
was asking for, Admiral Leahy suggested
that the matter be dropped until Gen-
eral Arnold had had an opportunity to
inspect these facilities for himself. The
suggestion was immediately accepted and
the debate over priorities tabled for
almost two weeks. 33

Meanwhile the joint planners had pro-
duced another split report. Given Mac-
Arthur's 30 August warning operations with South Pacific re-
quirements, and "three times within the
week" had sent out bombing missions
specifically at Ghormley's request. 49 Nor
did MacArthur miss the opportunity to
remind the Chief of Staff that not only
had he been aware of the situation in
the Solomons for some time, but had, in
fact, anticipated it. In a reference to his
message of 30 August, he reminded the
Chief of Staff that he had called atten-
tion to this new Japanese threat some-
time before and "begged review of the
question by the President and the Chiefs
of Staff lest it become too late."

Having thus set the record straight,
MacArthur then went on to provide a
picture of the situation in his own area
and the disadvantages under which his
forces were required to operate. Supply,
he pointed out, was the controlling
factor, and until he had overcome the